Presence of PTSD and Emotion Dysregulation Among Inpatients With Substance Use Disorder

There are high rates of co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among patients receiving treatment for substance use disorder (SUD). PTSD and SUD should be treated simultaneously, but adults in SUD treatment are often not assessed for PTSD nor offered PTSD-based interventions. One of the reasons for reluctance in offering trauma focused treatment is increased risk of drop out. PTSD and related emotion dysregulation are related to elevated psychological burden, higher dropout rates and increased risk of relapse. this is a feasibility study, where the plan is to integrate a combination of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Substance Use Disorder (DBT-SUD skills) a therapy targeting difficulties in emotion regulation and Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) a trauma focused therapy, for patients with co-occurring PTSD symptoms into standard SUD treatment . The plan is to assess its potential benefits by assessing whether adding this combination to standard SUD treatment is relevant, feasible, acceptable, and safe. Treatment outcomes are 1) Prevalence of PTSD, suicidal behaviour, and self-harm, as well as the severity of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional avoidance among patients (N approx. = 100) in inpatient treatment for SUD. 2) Change post-treatment and at 3 and 12 months follow up, from baseline in PTSD symptom severity, depressive symptoms, emotion regulation, emotion avoidance, and experience of shame. 3) Rates of dropout and relapse compared to previous rates. This project can increase knowledge about psychological mechanisms in co-occurring PTSD and SUD and improve the quality of treatment for this vulnerable patient population.