Citation

Proença CR, Markowitz JC, Prado EA, Braga R, Coimbra BM, Mello TF, Maciel MR, Pupo M, Póvoa J, Mello AF, Mello MF. Front. Psychol. 2019; 10: e2120.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02120

PMID

31572281

PMCID

PMC6753915

Abstract

BACKGROUND: An estimated 16.9% of adult Brazilian women experience sexual assault in their lifetime. Almost half of women who suffer such trauma develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Markowitz et al. (2015) found that an affect-focused non-exposure therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), adapted to treat PTSD (IPT-PTSD) had similar efficacy to and lower dropout rates than Prolonged Exposure (PE), the "gold standard," most studied exposure therapy for PTSD.

OBJECTIVE: To assess attrition rates in IPT of sexually assaulted women recently diagnosed with PTSD.

METHODS: The current study derives from a two-arm, randomized controlled clinical trial of sexually assaulted women with PTSD who received 14 weeks of standardized treatment with either IPT-PTSD or sertraline. Sample: The 32 patients in the IPT treatment arm were analyzed.

RESULTS: Overall attrition was 29%. One patient was withdrawn because of suicidal risk; four dropped out pre-treatment, and five dropped out during IPT-PTSD. If the excluded patient is considered a dropout, the rate increases to 31%.

DISCUSSION: This is the first formal study of IPT for PTSD specifically due to sexual assault. IPT attrition approximated dropout rates in PE studies, which are often around 30%, and to the sertraline group in our study (34.5%). Further research should compare IPT and PE among sexually assaulted women to clarify our hypothesis that IPT could be an attractive alternative approach for this patient group.

Copyright © 2019 Proença, Markowitz, Prado, Braga, Coimbra, Mello, Maciel, Pupo, Póvoa, Mello and Mello.

Language: en

Keywords

adherence; attrition; interpersonal psychotherapy; post-traumatic stress disorder; sexual assault