An interview score system to quantify the level of treatment resistance in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Several evidence-based psychotherapies and medications are available to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, many patients do not respond to these treatments, placing them at risk for developing a chronic course of illness and poor long-term outcomes. Despite the clinical significance of treatment resistant PTSD (TR-PTSD), there is currently no standard tool to identify patients as treatment resistant, and there is no agreement on what level of prior treatment should constitute TR-PTSD. Development of a tool that could quantify the degree of resistance to previously provided treatments would inform research in patients with PTSD.
Emory University researchers conducted a systematic review of PTSD treatment trials to identify medication and psychotherapy interventions proven to be efficacious for PTSD. Based on their research, the inventors developed the “E-TRIP,” a clinician-administered questionnaire for assessing the adequacy and benefit derived from past treatment trials. For each adequately delivered treatment to which the patient failed to respond, a score is assigned depending on the strength of evidence supporting the treatment’s efficacy. The E-TRIP quantifies the level of treatment resistance in patients with PTSD in order to standardize TR-PTSD in the research domain. The E-TRIP can provide a comprehensive assessment of prior PTSD treatments that should prove valuable for researchers studying TR-PTSD and evaluating the efficacy of new treatments for patients with PTSD.
E-TRIP is currently available.
Publication: Dunlop, B. W. et al. (2014). Behav. Sci., 4(4), 511-527.