Treatment
Procedure and scope:
Participation in the study not only provides the patient with a structured and comprehensive diagnosis of psychological distress, but also provides you with improved care and short-term psychosomatic treatment with your trusted GP. GPs can also contact us if you observe stressed patients in your patient base and want to better accompany and treat them.
In a first preliminary telephone conversation, we clarify individually the participation criteria and the fit between treatment offer and need. The next step is a comprehensive initial examination and standardised diagnostics. If the inclusion criteria are also met here, your GP will be contacted by our study team to participate in the study together with you and to provide further care.
A computer programme will then randomly assign you to one of 2 forms of treatment: enhanced standard care according to current treatment recommendations or trauma-focused brief therapy (NET). In both cases, you will have 3 appointments with your GP, in which your psychological stress due to the intensive care stay as well as other events will be discussed. You will find details about NET treatment in the section below.
Following the 3 sessions, you will be contacted again by telephone by the study team to record your long-term treatment success after 6 and 12 months. Participation in a scientific study is always voluntary and can be terminated at any time at your request.
Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET):
...was developed by psychotherapists at the University of Konstanz as a trauma therapy and shortened and adapted for use by the GP. This brief intervention for GPs does not replace a full-fledged trauma therapy, but offers a treatment approach that may already be sufficient in the case of milder stresses or can bridge the gap until psychotherapy begins. It includes
standardised examination of mental stress
- clarification of the clinical picture
- classification of formative events along the lifeline
- structured retelling of stressful experiences
The integration of memories into the situation at the time and the past has been shown to reduce psychological and emotional stress. Memory contents that could not be linked during the trauma situation are subsequently connected through retelling.
Your family doctor is trained by us and conducts 3 conversation sessions (each approx. 45 min) with you within 2 months. Accompanying short telephone visits (every 2-3 weeks) record the development of your stress symptoms and increase the therapy safety.
