Quantitative and qualitative outcomes of transactional analysis psychotherapy with male armed forces veterans in the UK presenting with post-Traumatic stress disorder

Harford, D; Widdowson, MDJ

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a two-year research project conducted within a live-in residential charity setting in the UK, examining clinical outcomes of TA psychotherapy among 15 male armed forces veterans presenting with severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other comorbid disorders. Outcomes were measured for short-term (24 sessions) and long-term (52 sessions) transactional analysis (TA) treatment using the quantitative CORE-OM (Evans, Mellor-Clark, Margison, Barkham, McGrath, Connell & Audin, 2000), PHQ-9 (Kroenke, Spitzer & Williams, 2001) and GAD-7 (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams & Löwe, 2006) questionnaires and the qualitative Change Interview (Elliott, Slatick, & Urman, 2001, as cited in Frommer & Rennie, 2001). Quantitative findings show that positive Reliable Change on global distress, depression and anxiety has taken place within both the short-term and long-term treatment groups with some clients achieving Clinically Significant Change on these measures. Qualitative findings arising from thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) indicate that a broad spectrum of therapist factors and psychotherapy process factors within the TA therapy delivered were beneficial for this particular client group. The negative influence of a number of psychosocial factors on the veterans' well-being is also discussed based on numerical data and interview responses. Overall, these results suggest that TA psychotherapy can be effective in the treatment of PTSD among combat veterans.

Citation

Harford, D., & Widdowson, M. (2014). Quantitative and qualitative outcomes of transactional analysis psychotherapy with male armed forces veterans in the UK presenting with post-Traumatic stress disorder. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research, 5(2), 35-65. https://doi.org/10.29044/v5i2p35

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 17, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2019
• Journal: International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research
• Print ISSN: 2218-3159
• Publisher: European Association for Transactional Analysis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 35-65
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.29044/v5i2p35
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.29044/v5i2p35
• Related Public URLs: http://ijtarp.org/