Psychology prof. conducts PTSD study with teens
Two researchers from the USU psychology department are currently working to find more efficient treatment options for adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma symptoms.
Michelle Woidneck, a doctoral student in the psychology program, and Michael Twohig, an assistant professor in the department, are holding treatment sessions for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
Woidneck said they hope to discover trauma treatment options that are more acceptable for teenagers.
PTSD occurs when patients have been exposed to a traumatic event in their lifetime, Woidneck said. She said about 25 percent of the U.S. population has been proven to be exposed to some kind of traumatic event by the age of 16.
Violence of any kind is one type of event that can traumatize individuals, she said. In a study conducted by the Child Trends Database in 2008, it was discovered more than 60 percent of adolescents younger than age of 17 had been exposed to physical violence in the past year.
Children are also more likely than adults to experience or witness violence, which could impact their trauma levels, according to the database.
“It could be war, it could be combat, it could be an assault, it could be a motor vehicle accident or surviving a natural disaster,” Woidneck said. “Or it could be witnessing these things and not being directly involve with it.”
Some people are able to move past the trauma, but others have a more adverse response, she said, and that is when PTSD plays a role. She said the three symptoms PTSD patients commonly exhibit are avoidance, re-experiencing the event and hyper-arousal.
Referencing the example of a car accident, Woidneck said people with PTSD will often completely avoid driving certain cars or on certain roads. PTSD patients might also experience nightmares and dreams that flash them back to their traumatic experience.
When hyper-aroused, trauma victims will be on edge and always on the lookout for danger, she said.
Twohig said exposure, avoidance, re-experiencing the event and hyper-arousal indicate an individual is experiencing PTSD, but only when such symptoms cause problems in the individual’s life. What makes his and Woidneck’s research different is that they treat PTSD victims as well as individuals experiencing one or more PTSD symptoms.
“We’re running a 10-week intervention for adolescents who are experiencing post-traumatic stress,” Woidneck said, “so they don’t necessarily have to meet full-blown criteria for PTSD.”
“With kids, we find that they can manifest symptoms in different ways, and the diagnosis doesn’t always capture their struggles,” she said. “A kid could be really struggling but not meet the full criteria for PTSD, because they don’t have enough re-experiencing symptoms.
“What our study is looking at is a treatment for post-traumatic stress generally, so if they have been exposed to a traumatic event, if they’re experiencing some of these symptoms and it’s interfering with their life in some way, then they qualify for the treatment.”
Woidneck and Twohig have been using a treatment method called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to treat these younger individuals.
“In traditional cognitive behavioral therapy, there’s an emphasis on changing cognitions in order to change behaviors,” Woidneck said. “And in ACT, we’re not trying to change cognitions. We’re trying to make them less meaningful, so when the thought or the memory shows up, it doesn’t have to push you around so much, and we do that through different discussion exercise and activities.”
Woidneck said they started seeing patients over the summer, adding that anyone can come in for an initial evaluation. From that point, patients undergo 10 one-hour therapy sessions each week and a follow-up assessment.
Patients also receive a phone call after three months to see if the results have been maintained over time.
Though it is an open-enrollment program, Woidneck said it is hard to reach the adolescent population.
“I think some of the problems with the treatments for kids and adolescents with trauma histories is that there’s a high dropout rate,” she said. “They’re hard. There’s a lot of exposure to the trauma and asking them to relive the trauma — retell it over and over and over again, until it loses its power.”
“It works,” she added. “We know it works, but you can see why lots of people would be hesitant to engage in that kind of treatment.”
Twohig said part of the reason there is so much focus on adolescents in the study is because there hasn’t been much research done in the area, which is also why the two hope to find new treatment methods.
He said PTSD research is not the only research being conducted by the department, currently.
“We also have a clinic that treats adults and adolescents with all anxiety disorders, including PTSD,” he said. “There is a fee for the services clinic, but we work on a sliding scale.”
Woidneck said even though it is too early to analyze data, there have already been reports of success from clients.
Twohig and Woidneck encourage anybody interested in the study and treatment to contact them. Anyone with an adolescent child experiencing PTSD symptoms is encouraged to call.
– ariwrees@gmail.com