Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) in the Emergency Department - Full Text View

Sponsored by:	Capital District Health Authority, Canada
Information provided by:	Capital District Health Authority, Canada
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00833742

Purpose

Objective: Somatization of emotions accounts for excess Emergency department (ED) visits. Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) has methods to diagnose and manage somatization. We examined the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of ISTDP diagnostic and treatment methods used for patients with repeated ED presentations for medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUS)

Condition	Intervention
Somatic Complaints of Multiple Types	Behavioral: Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Treatment, Non-Randomized, Open Label, Historical Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title:	Emotion-Focused Diagnosis and Treatment of Somatization in the ED

Further study details as provided by Capital District Health Authority, Canada:

Primary Outcome Measures:

Emergency department visits pre and post [ Time Frame: 1 year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Brief Symptom Inventory [ Time Frame: pre and post ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Patient Satisfaction [ Time Frame: post ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Enrollment:	77
Study Start Date:	January 2002
Study Completion Date:	October 2007
Primary Completion Date:	October 2007 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
1: Experimental ISTDP therapy was provided	Behavioral: Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy A brief psychotherapy format
2: No Intervention People referred but never seen

Detailed Description:

Herein we report the methods and outcomes of rapidly-accessed, emotion-focused diagnostic and treatment services for patients presenting to the ED with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). Patients who were assessed and referred by ED physicians will serve as a non-randomized condition controlling for some relevant variables. Our a priori hypotheses were that assessed and treated patients would have a reduction in ED visits and self reported symptoms after this intervention and that controls would have a smaller reduction in ED visits if any.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	18 Years and older
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Unexplained symptoms

Exclusion Criteria:

Psychosis, substance abuse, suicidality

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00833742

Locations

Canada, Nova Scotia
Capital Health
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 2E2

Sponsors and Collaborators

Capital District Health Authority, Canada

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Allan A Abbass, MD FRCPC

Capital Health, Canada

More Information

Publications:

Abbass A. Somatization: Diagnosing it sooner through emotion-focused interviewing. J Fam Pract. 2005 Mar;54(3):231-9, 243. Review. No abstract available.

Responsible Party:	Capital District Health Authority, Canada ( Allan Abbass, Director, Centre for Emotions and Health )
Study ID Numbers:	AAA01
Study First Received:	February 12, 2008
Last Updated:	January 30, 2009
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00833742 History of Changes
Health Authority:	Canada: Ethics Review Committee

Keywords provided by Capital District Health Authority, Canada:

somatization
psychosomatic
short-term
dynamic
psychotherapy

Study placed in the following topic categories:

Emergencies

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on August 28, 2009