AUTHOR=Dumarkaite Austeja , Truskauskaite-Kuneviciene Inga , Andersson Gerhard , Kazlauskas Evaldas 

TITLE=The Effects of Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial With 3-Month Follow-Up

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.799259

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.799259

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Mindfulness-based interventions have recently been shown to be a promising option for treating posttraumatic stress. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of an online mindfulness-based intervention on ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms at a 3-month follow-up.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>An RCT design with three measurement points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up) was used to investigate the effects of an 8-week online mindfulness intervention. In total, 53 traumatized young adults (<italic>M</italic><sub><italic>age</italic></sub> = 23.21, <italic>SD</italic><sub><italic>age</italic></sub> = 2.81; 84.9% female) participated in the study: 17 in the intervention group and 36 in the waiting list control group.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Intervention group and waiting list control group comparison revealed that the intervention was effective for reducing CPTSD disturbances in self-organization symptoms (<italic>d</italic> = −0.84 [−1.44; −0.24]), specifically, negative self-concept (<italic>d</italic> = −0.66 [−1.25; −0.07]) and disturbances in relationships (<italic>d</italic> = −0.87 [−1.47; −0.27]), at 3-month follow-up. There were no between-group effects for PTSD symptoms from pre-test to follow-up.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>This is one of the first RCT studies to report follow-up effects of an online mindfulness-based intervention for ICD-11 PTSD or CPTSD symptoms. Our study yielded that the effects of mindfulness-based internet intervention on CPTSD symptoms tend to retain over time.</p></sec><sec><title>Trial Registration</title><p>This study was registered with <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link> (NCT number: NCT04333667; <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333667" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333667</ext-link>). Registered April 3, 2020.</p></sec>