A Pilot Test of the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) in Spanish Speaking World Trade Center Survivors With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A Pilot Test of the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) in Spanish Speaking World Trade Center Survivors With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The objective of this protocol is to test the feasibility and acceptability of the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP), a psychotherapy treatment providing a variety of mind body skills and interventions to decrease medical and mental health symptoms and build resilience, in Spanish-speaking World Trade Center (WTC) survivors, and to examine its clinical effectiveness to reduce Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and lower respiratory symptoms (LRS) and improve psychosocial functioning.

Inclusion Criteria:

• score > or = 44 on the PTSD Checklist PCL, considered the broad definition of PTSD syndrome71
• report at least one LRS symptoms (i.e., shortness of breath, wheezing, dyspnea or cough).
• Spanish Speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• regular practice of eliciting relaxation response (i.e., meditation, yoga) in the past 6 months,
• serious unmanaged mental illness including bipolar disorder, psychosis, and active substance misuse disorders;
• inability to participate in consecutive sessions over 3-month period.