AUTHOR=Proença Cecília R. , Markowitz John C. , Prado Euthymia A. , Braga Rosaly , Coimbra Bruno M. , Mello Thays F. , Maciel Mariana R. , Pupo Mariana , Póvoa Juliana , Mello Andrea F. , Mello Marcelo F. TITLE=Attrition in Interpersonal Psychotherapy Among Women With Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Following Sexual Assault JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02120 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02120 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=Background

An estimated 16.9% of adult Brazilian women experience sexual assault in their lifetime. Almost half of women who suffer such trauma develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Markowitz et al. (2015) found that an affect-focused non-exposure therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), adapted to treat PTSD (IPT-PTSD) had similar efficacy to and lower dropout rates than Prolonged Exposure (PE), the “gold standard,” most studied exposure therapy for PTSD.

Objective

To assess attrition rates in IPT of sexually assaulted women recently diagnosed with PTSD.

Methods

The current study derives from a two-arm, randomized controlled clinical trial of sexually assaulted women with PTSD who received 14 weeks of standardized treatment with either IPT-PTSD or sertraline. Sample: The 32 patients in the IPT treatment arm were analyzed.

Results

Overall attrition was 29%. One patient was withdrawn because of suicidal risk; four dropped out pre-treatment, and five dropped out during IPT-PTSD. If the excluded patient is considered a dropout, the rate increases to 31%.

Discussion

This is the first formal study of IPT for PTSD specifically due to sexual assault. IPT attrition approximated dropout rates in PE studies, which are often around 30%, and to the sertraline group in our study (34.5%). Further research should compare IPT and PE among sexually assaulted women to clarify our hypothesis that IPT could be an attractive alternative approach for this patient group.