The British Journal of Psychiatry (2006) 189: 150-155. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.105.021121
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow A corrigendum has been published
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in BJP
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sijbrandij, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gersons, B. P. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sijbrandij, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gersons, B. P. R.

Emotional or educational debriefing after psychological trauma*

Randomised controlled trial

Marit Sijbrandij, MA and Miranda Olff, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre

Johannes B. Reitsma, MD, PhD

Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam

Ingrid V. E. Carlier, PhD

Centre of Work-Related Mental Disorders, Altrecht Mental Health Care, Utrecht

Berthold P. R. Gersons, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Marit Sijbrandij, Academic Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Tafelbergweg 25, 1105 BC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 20 5668783; fax: +31 20 6919019; email: e.m.sijbrandij{at}amc.uva.nl

Declaration of interest None.

Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

* Preliminary results were presented to the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies at their 18th and 21st annual conferences.

Background Recent studies show that individual single-session psychological debriefing does not prevent and can even aggravate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Aims We studied the effect of emotional ventilation debriefing and educational debriefing v. no debriefing on symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression.

Method We randomised 236 adult survivors of a recenttraumatic eventto either emotional ventilation debriefing, educational debriefing or no debriefing (control) and followed up at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 6 months.

Results Psychiatric symptoms decreased in all three groups over time, without significantdifferences between the groups in symptoms of PTSD (P=0.33). Participants in the emotional debriefing group with high baseline hyperarousal score had significantly more PTSD symptoms at 6 weeks than control participants (P=0.005).

Conclusions Our study did not provide evidence for the usefulness of individual psychological debriefing in reducing symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression after psychological trauma.


Related articles in BJP:

From the Editor's desk
Peter Tyrer
BJP 2006 189: 200. [Full Text]  

Highlights of this issue
Kimberlie Dean
BJP 2006 189: A5. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br Med BullHome page
I. J Mansdorf
Psychological interventions following terrorist attacks
Br. Med. Bull., December 1, 2008; 88(1): 7 - 22.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Occup Med (Lond)Home page
J. G. Sharpley, N. T. Fear, N. Greenberg, M. Jones, and S. Wessely
Pre-deployment stress briefing: does it have an effect?
Occup. Med., January 1, 2008; 58(1): 30 - 34.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Occup Med (Lond)Home page
J. I. Bisson
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Occup. Med., September 1, 2007; 57(6): 399 - 403.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol RevHome page
K. C. McLean, M. Pasupathi, and J. L. Pals
Selves Creating Stories Creating Selves: A Process Model of Self-Development
Personality and Social Psychology Review, August 1, 2007; 11(3): 262 - 278.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 BMJHome page
J. Welch and F. Mason
Rape and sexual assault
BMJ, June 2, 2007; 334(7604): 1154 - 1158.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. PsychiatryHome page
M. SIJBRANDIJ and M. OLFF
Drs. Sijbrandij and Olff Reply
Am J Psychiatry, June 1, 2007; 164(6): 975 - 975.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JWatch PsychiatryHome page
Debriefing After Trauma: The Final Word?
Journal Watch Psychiatry, September 11, 2006; 2006(911): 1 - 1.
[Full Text]

Home page
 BMJHome page
Minerva
BMJ, August 12, 2006; 333(7563): 360 - 360.
[Full Text] [PDF]