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Testimony Therapy With Ritual: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial *
Author(s) -
Esala Jennifer J.,
Taing Sopheap
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.22163
Subject(s) - randomized controlled trial , psychotherapist , psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , physical therapy , surgery
Testimony therapy can provide low‐cost, brief, simple, and culturally adaptable psychosocial services in low‐income countries (Agger, Raghuvanshi, Khan, Polatin, & Laursen, 2009). Nonetheless, there have been no well‐controlled studies of testimony therapy. We report the analyses of a randomized controlled trial designed to assess the effectiveness of testimony therapy plus a culturally adapted ceremony in reducing mental health symptoms among Khmer Rouge torture survivors from across Cambodia. Using multilevel modeling, we compared symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression between a treatment ( n = 45) and a control group ( n = 43) at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. We found that testimony therapy plus ceremony significantly reduced symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder ( d = 0.49), anxiety ( d = 0.44), and depression ( d = 0.53).