Experiencing violence and abuse during childhood has severe repercussions on the well-being of those affected. The ENHANCE collaborative project seeks to enhance the psycho-biological understanding and psychotherapeutic treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder. In the centralized randomized-controlled psychotherapy study, two trauma-focused short-term therapies are being compared across five locations in Berlin, Giessen, Dresden, Mainz, and Ulm: cognitive-behavioral therapy ("Skills-Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation," Cloitre et al., 2016) and trauma-focused psychodynamic therapy ("Psychodynamic therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder after childhood trauma," Wöller et al., 2019). The assumption is that neither of the two treatment approaches demonstrates long-term superiority over the other.
Individuals aged 18 to 65, who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence during childhood or adolescence and are suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, undergo interviews and treatment. Diagnostic assessments are conducted at five specific measurement points. Following a comprehensive initial diagnosis, patients are randomly assigned to either of the two treatment conditions or to a waiting control group. Specially trained therapists then administer the mentioned trauma-focused short-term treatments. All therapy sessions are audio-recorded and scrutinized for treatment integrity and underlying mechanisms of action. Other projects within the network explore neuronal and biomolecular correlates, as well as health economic aspects.
Original language: German
Prof. Dr. Christine Knaevelsrud (Free University of Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Falk Leichsenring (Network coordinator)
Prof. Dr. Johannes Kruse
Prof. Dr. Eva Peters (University clinic Gießen und Marburg)
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stark (Justus-Liebig-University Gießen)
Prof Dr. Kerstin Weidner (University clinic Carl Gustav Carus)
Prof. Dr. Jürger Hoyer (Technical University Dresden)
Prof. Dr. Manfred Beutel (University clinic Mainz)
Prof. Dr. Michael Witthöft (Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz)
Prof. Dr. Harald Gündel (University clinic Ulm)
Prof. Dr. Iris-Tatjana Kolassa (Ulm University)
Prof. Dr. Christiane Steinert (Internationale Psychoanalytic University IPU Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Hans-Helmut-König (University clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf)