Psychotherapy (Accelerated Resolution Therapy) for Cancer Related Trauma and Distress

Accelerated Resolution Therapy for Cancer Related Trauma and Distress: a Pilot Study

This trial studies whether a form of psychotherapy called accelerated resolution therapy can help with cancer distress and psychological trauma. Accelerated resolution therapy is an evidence-based therapy for the treatment of depressive symptoms, trauma, and stress-related disorders. This study may provide evidence to support integration of accelerated resolution therapy into psychological treatment of cancer patients, which may decrease cancer related trauma and distress.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Calculate changes, and estimate mean changes, in primary outcomes of psychological trauma and cancer distress over a six week time period while receiving weekly accelerated resolution therapy (ART).

II. Calculate changes, and estimate mean changes, in secondary outcomes of anxiety and depression over a six week period while receiving weekly ART.

III. Will use a qualitative, descriptive design to explore contextual elements of the cancer experience that are consistently distressing and/or psychologically traumatic to more fully inform a future RCT testing in ART in cancer distress and psychological trauma.

IV. Calculate changes, and estimate mean changes, in secondary outcomes of resilience and symptom distress over a six week period while receiving weekly ART.

OUTLINE:

Patients undergo ART over 60-90 minutes once a week for up to 5 sessions.

After completion of study intervention, patients are followed up at 1 week and again at 1 month.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Able to read, write and understand English
• Undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T), or bone marrow transplant for a cancer diagnosis within the previous 3 years or have metastatic cancer
• A mean score of at least 1.1 on the Cancer and Treatment Distress (CTxD) or at least one item rated at a 3 (often true) or 4 (nearly all the time)
• A minimum score of 3 on the Primary Care-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC-PTSD-5)
• Denial of suicidal ideation or intent, with no evidence of psychotic behavior
• Participants must be willing and able to utilize secure web conferencing software, phone calls, or to travel to Mayo Clinic outside of normally scheduled visits to participate in the study