Project details

Summary

What is the study about? 

Many people with unusual experiences (such as hearing unusual sounds or murmurs, feeling like something is different or not quite right, periods of confusion, or feeling unsafe) have experienced distressing life events in their past, which can affect their wellbeing. 

These traumatic experiences can have a lasting effect, including upsetting memories, thoughts and feelings, flashbacks and nightmares. Talking therapies can help improve mental health difficulties, but some forms of therapy do not always consider the distressing life events that people have experienced.

In this clinical trial, we are trying to see if psychological therapies can be acceptable and helpful to these people.

What are you trying to find out?

We are conducting a new clinical trial to see if it would be useful to offer Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Trauma Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), for people who have experienced distressing life events and psychological difficulties. 

EMDR is used as a therapy for people who have experienced traumatic life events and mental health difficulties that result from traumatic life experiences. Similarly, Trauma Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), is used as a therapy for people who have had distressing life experiences and mental health difficulties that result from traumatic life experiences. 

We still do not know which of the therapies could be most helpful for people who have had distressing life experiences and have unusual experiences as aforementioned. We want to find out if therapy for distressing life experiences is helpful and acceptable for these people. 

This project will help us to understand if EMDR and TF-CBT are safe and can be helpful for people who have unusual experiences, by comparing a number of patients who receive sessions of EMDR, patients who receive TF-CBT, and patients who only receive their usual care, over a nine-month therapy period.

What does taking part involve?

If the trial is suitable for you, you will be asked to complete some more questionnaires with a member of our research team, before you will be allocated at random to one of the three groups in our study.

A RESTART therapist will contact you to let you know which group you have been allocated to. If you are allocated to receiving EMDR or TF-CBT as part of this study, the therapist will also schedule with you your first therapy session.

A trained therapist will arrange to visit you at a mutually convenient time and location or arrange meetings with you over phone or video calls when this is more suitable. You will meet with the therapist for up to 24 therapy sessions over a 9-month period, but it will be up to you how many sessions you attend and how often you will meet your therapist.

A researcher will give you a brief ‘keeping in touch’ phone call about 4 months after the start of the study. After approximately 9 months after your first assessment with our research team, you will be invited to complete a follow-up assessment. You will be asked to complete questions similar to those completed in the first appointment with the researcher.

If you give us permission to do so, we will also check your NHS medical notes for up to 12 months after you started the study, so that we could better understand how therapies we are investigating in the study impact people’s wellbeing. 

Who is it for?

We are looking for people who are: 

• Aged 16 or over 
• Currently receiving support from GMMH
• People who have experienced distressing life events and psychological difficulties 

Why is it important? 

This project will help us to understand if EMDR and TF-CBT are safe and can be helpful for people who have unusual experiences, by comparing a number of patients who receive sessions of EMDR, patients who receive TF-CBT, and patients who only receive their usual care, over a nine-month therapy period.

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page. You can also the Complex Trauma and Resilience Research Unit's (C-TRU) website here. 

If you are interested in taking part in this study, or have questions for the research team, click the button below to email the research team:

Email the research team