Summarize the research design and methods used in the study. At a minimum, this summary should include (but not necessarily
4 paragraphs, summarize the research design and methods used in the study.
At a minimum, this summary should include (but not necessarily in this order) identification of the study design, where and how the sample was recruited (i.e. probability of non-probability sampling), the treatment arms, number of study participants (sample size), number of participants randomized to each treatment arm, 1-2 sentences that describes the purpose of each intervention, identification of the outcomes of interest, measures that were used to measure the dependent variables, points in time that data were collected (e.g. baseline, week 8, end of treatment), study period.
Last (in a separate paragraph), propose another research design [or other methodological changes to the study design or another approach] that could also be used to achieve study objectives
A Randomized Controlled Trial of 7-Day Intensive and Standard Weekly Cognitive Therapy for PTSD and Emotion-Focused Supportive Therapy
Anke Ehlers, Ph.D.1,2, Ann Hackmann, D.Clin.Psy.3, Nick Grey, D.Clin.Psy.2, Jennifer Wild, D.Clin.Psy.1,2, Sheena Liness, M.A.2, Idit Albert, D.Clin.Psy.2, Alicia Deale, Ph.D.2, Richard Stott, D.Clin.Psy.2, and David M. Clark, DPhil1,2
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK and NIHR Oxford cognitive health Clinical Research Facility
2NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and King’s College London, UK
3Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK
Abstract
Objective—Psychological treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are usually delivered once or twice weekly over several months. It is unclear whether they can be successfully
delivered over a shorter period of time. This clinical trial had two goals, (1) to investigate the
acceptability and efficacy of a 7-day intensive version of cognitive therapy for PTSD, and (2) to
investigate whether cognitive therapy has specific treatment effects by comparing intensive and
standard weekly cognitive therapy with an equally credible alternative treatment.
Method—Patients with chronic PTSD (N=121) were randomly allocated to 7-day intensive or standard 3-month weekly cognitive therapy for PTSD, 3-month weekly emotion-focused
supportive therapy, or a 14-week waitlist condition. Primary outcomes were PTSD symptoms and
diagnosis as assessed by independent assessors and self-report. Secondary outcomes were
disability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Measures were taken at initial assessment, 6
weeks and 14 weeks (post-treatment/wait). For groups receiving treatment, measures were also
taken at 3 weeks, and follow-ups at 27 and 40 weeks after randomization. All analyses were
intent-to-treat.
Results—At post-treatment/wait assessment, 73%, 77%, 43%, 7% of the intensive cognitive therapy, standard cognitive therapy, supportive therapy, and waitlist groups, respectively, had
recovered from PTSD. All treatments were well tolerated and were superior to waitlist on all
outcome measures, with the exception of no difference between supportive therapy and waitlist on
quality of life. For primary outcomes, disability and general anxiety, intensive and standard
Location of work and address for reprints: The work was conducted at the University of Oxford and Oxford Cognitive Health NIHR Clinical Research Facility and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and King’s College London, UK. Please address correspondence to Anke Ehlers, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK, [email protected]
The trial was registered as ISRCTN 48524925.
Europe PMC Funders Group Author Manuscript Am J Psychiatry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 September 01.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Psychiatry. 2014 March 1; 171(3): 294–304. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13040552.
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cognitive therapy were superior to supportive therapy. Intensive cognitive therapy achieved faster
symptom reduction and comparable overall outcomes to standard cognitive therapy.
Conclusions—Cognitive therapy for PTSD delivered intensively over little more than a week is as effective as cognitive therapy delivered over 3 months. Both had specific effects and were
superior to supportive therapy. Intensive cognitive therapy for PTSD is a feasible and promising
alternative to traditional weekly treatment.
Keywords
Posttraumatic stress disorder; clinical trial; randomized controlled trial; cognitive behavior therapy; cognitive therapy; intensive treatment; treatment outcome; treatment acceptability
Introduction
A range of trauma-focused psychological treatment programs are effective for posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) (1-3). Such treatments are usually delivered once or twice per week
over the course of several months. While this is a conventional psychotherapy format, it has
some potential disadvantages from a patient perspective. PTSD interferes with social and
occupational functioning and it could be desirable to make more rapid progress.
Furthermore, some patients find it difficult to commit to protracted psychological treatment
(2). This raises the question of whether trauma-focused psychological treatment for PTSD is
effective and acceptable if condensed into a shorter period of time. There is some evidence
that intensive cognitive behavior therapy is effective in other anxiety disorders (4-5), but it
remains unclear whether it is feasible for PTSD. Some clinicians are concerned about the
risk of symptom exacerbation in the treatment of PTSD (6-7), and it is conceivable that a
concentrated treatment delivery could enhance the risk of possible adverse effects.
This clinical trial had two goals. First, we investigated the acceptability and efficacy of an
intensive 7-day version of cognitive therapy or PTSD (8). Standard once-weekly cognitive
therapy for PTSD over three months has been shown to be highly effective and acceptable to
patients (9-13). A pilot study suggested that intensive cognitive therapy for PTSD may also
be effective (8). Second, we tested whether cognitive therapy for PTSD has specific
treatment effects by comparing intensive and standard weekly cognitive therapy with an
alternative active treatment, emotion-focused supportive psychotherapy, using a broad range
of outcomes including PTSD symptoms, disability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life.
Cognitive therapy for PTSD has been shown to be superior to self-help interventions with
limited therapist contact (9), but has not yet been compared with an equally credible
alternative psychological treatment involving the same amount of therapist contact.
Method
Participants
Participants (N=121) were recruited between 2003 and 2008 from consecutive referrals to a
National Health Service outpatient clinic for anxiety disorders in South London, UK (n=81),
or a research clinic at the University of Oxford, UK (n=40). Patients were invited to
participate if they met the following inclusion criteria: they were between 18-65 years old;
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met diagnostic criteria for chronic PTSD as determined by the Structured Clinical Interview
for DSM-IV (14); their current intrusive memories were linked to one or two discrete
traumatic events in adulthood; and PTSD was the main problem. Exclusion criteria were:
history of psychosis; current substance dependence; borderline personality disorder; acute
serious suicide risk; treatment could not be conducted without the aid of an interpreter.
Figure 1 shows the patient flow chart and Table 1 presents details on trauma, clinical,
demographic and treatment characteristics. There were no group differences in any of the
variables. Seventy-one patients (58.7%) were female, and 36 (29.8%) were from ethnic
minorities. The most common index traumas were interpersonal violence (physical/sexual
assault, 37.2%), accidents or disaster (38.0%), or traumatic death of others (7.4%). Most
patients (71.9%) had a history of other traumas besides their index traumas. The majority
(63.6%) had comorbid other Axis I disorders (mainly mood and anxiety disorders, substance
abuse), and 19.8% had Axis II disorders (mainly obsessive-compulsive, depressive,
paranoid, avoidant). Around a third (36.7%) had had previous treatment for PTSD. Patients
taking psychotropic medication (29.8%) were required to be on a stable dose for two months
before random allocation.
Random Allocation and Masking
If suitable for the trial and willing to participate, patients signed the informed consent form.
They were then randomly allocated to one of the four trial conditions by an independent
researcher who was not involved in assessing patients, using the minimization procedure
(15) to stratify for sex and severity of PTSD symptoms. Assessors determining the
suitability of a patient for inclusion were not informed about the stratification variables and
algorithm. Assessments of treatment outcome were conducted by independent evaluators
without knowledge of the patient’s treatment condition. Patients were asked not to reveal
their group assignment to the evaluators. Participants were not blind to the nature of the
treatment, but care was taken to create similarly positive expectations in each treatment
group, by informing them that several psychological treatments were effective in PTSD and
it was unknown which worked best, and by giving a detailed rationale for the treatment
condition to which the patient was allocated. Patient ratings of treatment credibility (16) and
therapeutic alliance scores (17) were high in all treatment conditions and did not differ
(Table 1).
Treatment Conditions
Patients in all treatment conditions received up to 20 hours of treatment by the 14 week
(post-treatment/wait) assessment. Sessions were spread evenly over 3 months for standard
cognitive therapy and supportive therapy, whereas the main part of treatment occurred
within the first 7 to 10 days of intensive cognitive therapy. The number of treatment or
booster sessions received did not differ between the treatment groups (Table 1).
Standard Cognitive Therapy for PTSD—This treatment was delivered as in previous trials (9, 10), in up to 12 weekly individual sessions over the course of three months, with an
optional three monthly booster sessions over the following three months. The treatment
follows Ehlers and Clark’s model of PTSD (19) and aims to reduce the patient’s sense of
current threat by (i) identifying and modifying excessively negative appraisals of the trauma
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and/or its sequelae, (ii) elaborating the trauma memory and discriminating triggers of
intrusive reexperiencing, and (iii) reducing the use of cognitive strategies and behaviors
(such as thought suppression, rumination, safety-seeking behaviors) that maintain the
problem. Therapists followed a treatment manual (20). A description of treatment
procedures is found at http://oxcadat.psy.ox.ac.uk/downloads/CT-PTSD%20Treatment
%20Procedures.pdf/view. Patients were given homework assignments to complete between
sessions.
7-Day Intensive Cognitive Therapy for PTSD—This treatment followed the same protocol as standard cognitive therapy, but the main part of the treatment was delivered over
a much shorter period of time. In the intensive treatment phase, patients received up to 18
hours of therapy over a period of 5 to 7 working days. Treatment days usually comprised a
morning and an afternoon session lasting 90 min to 2 hours, with a break for lunch. There
were up to two further sessions one week and one month after the intensive period to discuss
progress and homework assignments, and up to three optional monthly booster sessions.
Patients receiving intensive cognitive therapy completed homework assignments parallel to
those in standard cognitive therapy. However, during the intensive phase homework was
more limited due to time constraints.
Emotion-focused Supportive Therapy—This non-directive treatment focused on patients’ emotional reactions rather than their cognitions. It was designed to provide a
credible therapeutic alternative to control for nonspecific therapeutic factors so that observed
effects of cognitive therapy could be attributed to its specific effects beyond the benefits of
good therapy. Like standard cognitive therapy, it comprised up to 12 weekly individual
sessions (up to 20 hours in total) over three months and optional three monthly booster
sessions. Therapists followed a manual that specified procedures, building on similar
treatment programs (20-21). After normalizing PTSD symptoms, the therapist gave the
rationale that the trauma had left the patient with unprocessed emotions and that therapy
would provide them with support and a safe context to address their unresolved emotions.
Patients could freely choose what problems to discuss in the session, including any aspect of
the trauma. Therapists helped patients clarify their emotions and solve problems. They did
not restructure the patient’s appraisals, attempt to elaborate their trauma memories or
discriminate triggers, or direct them in how to change their behavior. As homework, patients
kept a daily diary of their emotional responses to the events of the week that was discussed
in the following session (20).
Waitlist—Patients allocated to waitlist waited for 14 weeks before receiving treatment.
Outcome measures
Data were collected from all participants, including dropouts. Primary assessment points
were at pre-treatment/wait, 6 weeks (self-reports only), and 14 weeks (post-treatment/wait).
Follow-ups for treated patients were at 27 and 40 weeks after randomization. Figure 1 shows
the number of patients who provided data at each assessment point. In addition, patients
receiving therapy also completed self-reports of PTSD symptoms, anxiety and depression at
3 weeks.
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Primary Outcome Measures
Clinician-rated PTSD symptoms: Independent assessors (trained psychologists) interviewed patients with the Clinician-Administered PTSD scale (CAPS) (22). The CAPS
assesses the frequency and severity of each of the PTSD symptoms specified in DSM-IV.
Interrater reliability was kappa=.95 for a PTSD diagnosis, and r=.98 for the total severity
score (37 interviews, 14 interviewers, 14 raters).
Severity of PTSD symptoms: Patients completed the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (23), a self-report questionnaire measuring the overall severity of PTSD symptoms (range 0-51)
that has shown good reliability and concurrent validity with other PTSD measures.
Secondary Outcome Measures
Disability: Patients completed the Sheehan Disability Scale (24) and rated the interference caused by their symptoms in their work, social life/leisure activities, and family life/home.
The disability score was the sum of the ratings (range 0-30).
General Anxiety and Depression: Symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (25) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (26), standard
21-item self-report measures with high reliability and validity (range 0-63).
Quality of Life: Perceived quality of life was assessed with the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (27). This scale assesses the patient’s satisfaction in 14 life
domains and has been shown to be reliable and valid in clinical and community samples
(28).
Therapist Training and Treatment Fidelity
Therapists were qualified clinicians who had completed a clinical psychology or nurse
therapist degree, and had received further training in all treatments used in this study. They
had treated at least two cases with each of the therapy protocols under supervision before
treating trial patients. They received weekly supervision from a senior clinician trained in all
treatment modalities for weekly cases, and daily supervision for intensive cases to ensure
compliance with the treatment protocols.
To further evaluate treatment integrity, a randomly selected recording from each patient was
reviewed by a trained assessor for compliance with the treatment protocol, using a detailed
checklist of procedures used. Only one minor deviation was discovered: one of the
supportive therapy patients worked on spotting memory triggers for a few minutes. Another
randomly selected session from each patient was rated for therapist competency. Cognitive
therapy sessions were rated by a psychologist experienced in cognitive therapy, using an
adapted version of the Cognitive Therapy Scale (29), on a scale from 0 to 6. A score of 3 is
considered satisfactory, and scores of 4 and above indicate good to excellent competency.
The mean score was 4.7 (SD=0.41) for standard cognitive therapy and 4.8 (SD=0.35) for
intensive cognitive therapy (p>.18). Supportive Therapy sessions were evaluated for
therapist competency by a counseling psychologist experienced in supportive therapy (on a
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scale from 0 to 6 with anchors as above, informed by ratings of dimensions of good non-
directive therapy such an empathic understanding, 30). The mean rating was 4.7 (SD=0.49).
Data Analysis
All analyses were intent-to-treat, using all 121 randomly assigned participants. Dichotomous
outcomes were compared with χ2 tests. Continuous outcomes were analyzed with
hierarchical linear modeling (31). This analysis models random slopes and intercepts for
participants, and tests the fixed effects of treatment condition and repeated assessments over
time, using data from all participants. Differential treatment efficacy shows in significant
interactions between treatment condition and time. Significant overall effects were followed
up with contrasts between conditions. All variables were centered for the analysis (32).
Significance levels were set at p<.05 (two-tailed). To test whether the 3 treatment conditions
led to better outcome than waitlist, linear trends for symptom change over assessments
points from baseline to 6 weeks and 14 weeks post-treatment/wait assessments were
compared between the 4 trial conditions. To compare the efficacy of the 3 treatment
conditions, hierarchical linear modeling compared symptom scores from baseline to the 40-
weeks follow-up, fitting linear and quadratic trends for symptom change over the five
assessments (pre treatment, 6, 14, 27 and 40 weeks). Interactions of site, sex, medication
status, and trauma type with condition and time were explored in additional analyses, but as
effects were far from significant, these were omitted from the final models.
For comparison with meta-analyses, we also report effect sizes Cohen’s d (33) for adjusted
between-group differences (controlling for pre-treatment scores) and confidence intervals at
post-treatment. Effect sizes of 0.5 and above are considered medium effects and those of 0.8
and above large effects. To compare the speed of recovery between the treated groups, a
further analysis compared symptom scores on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, and Beck
Anxiety and Depression Inventories at 3 weeks for the treated groups, controlling for initial
symptom severity. Effect sizes for within-group changes in symptom scores between the
pre- and post-treatment/wait assessments were calculated as Cohen’s d statistic (33), using
the pooled standard deviation as reference, which is more conservative in estimating
improvement than using pre-treatment standard deviations.
Recovery from PTSD diagnosis according to the CAPS was coded if the patient no longer
met the minimum number of symptoms in each symptom cluster required by DSM-IV with
a score of at least “1” for both frequency and intensity, and a global severity score of at least
“2”, as in (9-11). This was determined for all randomly assigned participants. The status of a
few subjects with missing CAPS observations was based on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic
Scale (if available for this time-point) or the last available value on the CAPS. In addition,
for comparisons with other papers (21), we calculated the percentages of patients who were
totally remitted according to assessor ratings and self-report, using cut-offs recommended in
the respective manual, (1) a CAPS score of below 20 (“asymptomatic”), and (2) a
Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale score below 11. PTSD symptom deterioration was defined
using established cut-offs for statistically reliable change, i.e. increases in symptoms greater
than 6.15 on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (34) and increases greater than 10 on the
CAPS (21).
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Sample size was determined by power analysis on the basis of effect sizes for cognitive
therapy observed in previous trials. A group size of n=30 per condition yields 85% power
for ES=0.8.
Results
Adverse Effects, Dropouts and Symptom Deterioration
No adverse effects (i.e., negative reactions to treatment procedures such as significant
increases in dissociation, suicidal intent or hyperarousal) were reported in any of the groups.
Dropouts were defined as attending fewer than 8 sessions (35), unless the earlier completion
was agreed with the therapist. Dropout rates were low and did not differ between conditions
(Table 2). Only one patient in the supportive therapy group reported symptom deterioration
on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (Table 2). On the CAPS, fewer patients treated with
intensive and cognitive therapy were rated as having deteriorated than those in the waitlist
condition. The supportive therapy group did not statistically differ from the other groups.
Comparison of Treatment Conditions with Waitlist
Table 2 shows the recovery rates for the treatment and wait conditions. All treatment
conditions were more likely to lead to recovery from PTSD diagnosis than waitlist. Intensive
and standard cognitive therapy had excellent number-needed-to-treat statistics of 1.50
(95%CI 1.18; 2.06) and 1.41 (95%CI 1.14; 1.87). For supportive therapy, the number-
needed-to-treat was 2.73 (95%CI 1.77; 5.95). Similar results were obtained for assessor-
rated and self-reported total remission. Table 3 shows the results for the continuous outcome
measures. There were significant condition × time interactions (all p<.002) for all primary
and secondary outcome measures, PTSD symptoms: CAPS F(3,135.35)=21.50 and
Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale F(3,106.56)=21.16; disability F(3,109.86)=14.01; anxiety
F(3,106.85)=13.57; depression F(3,122.20)=5.16; quality of life F(3,106.85)=6.96. All
contrasts between treatment conditions and waitlist were significant, indicating greater
improvement for intensive and standard cognitive therapy and supportive therapy compared
to waitlist, except for a nonsignificant difference between supportive therapy and waitlist on
quality of life. As shown in Table 4, pre-post effect sizes d for both intensive and standard
cognitive therapy showed very large improvement in PTSD symptoms and disability, and
large improvement in anxiety, depression, and quality of life.
Comparison of Treatment Conditions
At the post-treatment and follow-up assessments, more patients receiving intensive and
standard cognitive therapy had recovered from a PTSD diagnosis than those receiving
supportive therapy (Table 2). Similar results were obtained for assessor-rated and self-
reported total remission. For all primary and secondary continuous outcomes except for
depression (Table 3), hierarchical linear modeling showed significant interactions between
condition and linear time effects; PTSD symptoms: CAPS F(2,154.13)=7.83, p=.001, and
Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale F(2,215.14)=4.42, p=.01; disability F(2,220.14)=7.45, p=.
001; anxiety F(2,176.80)=5.40, p=.005; depression F(2,213.98)=0.79, p>.23; quality of life
F(2, 231.98)=3.27, p=.04. Contrasts showed that both intensive and standard cognitive
therapy led to greater improvement than supportive therapy on the primary outcome
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measures (CAPS, Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale), disability and anxiety. For quality of life,
standard cognitive therapy was superior to supportive therapy, and there was a trend for
intensive cognitive therapy to be superior (p<.10). Baseline-adjusted mean group differences
at post-treatment and effect sizes are shown in Table 4.
Speed of Recovery
Comparison of the treatment groups at 3 weeks, controlling for initial severity, showed
significant differences on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, F(2,87)=10.35, p<.001;
anxiety, F(2,87)=4.23, p=.018; and depression, F(2, 87)=5.27, p=.007. The intensive
cognitive therapy group scored lower on PTSD symptoms than the standard cognitive
therapy and supportive therapy groups, baseline-adjusted means 16.65 (95%CI 13.19;
20.12), 24.05 (95%CI 20.64; 27.46), 27.65 (95%CI 24.18; 31.12), respectively. They also
had lower depression scores at 3 weeks than both other treatment groups, and lower anxiety
scores than supportive therapy.
Additional Comparison of Intensive and Standard Weekly Cognitive Therapy Including Post-Wait Patients
To further test the comparability of outcomes between the intensive and standard cognitive
therapy groups, waitlist patients who still had PTSD at the post-wait assessment and still
wished treatment were randomly assigned to either standard (n=13) or intensive (n=11)
cognitive therapy. The comparison of all patients treated with intensive (n=41) and standard
cognitive therapy (n=44) had 80% power in detecting a difference of 4.4 points on the
Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale. There were no interactions between treatment condition and
time on any measure, indicating comparable outcomes. Baseline-adjusted differences at 14
weeks between all standard weekly and intensive cognitive therapy patients were: CAPS
−2.19 (95%CI −12.97;8.60), d=0.08, and Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale −1.48 (95%CI
−5.35;2.39), d=0.15; disability 0.51 (95%CI −2.74;3.75), d=0.06; anxiety −2.59 (95%CI
−6.79;1.63), d=0.24; depression 0.27 (95%CI −3.59;4.13), d=0.03; quality of life 4.8(95%CI
−3.18;12.72), d=0.23.
Discussion
The main findings were (1) that a novel 7-day intensive version of cognitive therapy for
PTSD was well tolerated, achieved faster symptom reduction and led to comparable overall
outcomes as standard once-weekly cognitive therapy delivered over three months, and (2)
that both intensive and standard cognitive therapy had specific effects and were more
efficacious in treating PTSD than emotion-focused supportive therapy. The intent-to-treat
pre-post effect sizes for improvement in PTSD symptoms with both intensive and standard
cognitive therapy were very large, and patients’ mean scores after treatment were in the
nonclinical range. There were no site effects, suggesting that the treatment worked as well in
patients recruited from a routine clinical setting as in those referred to a research clinic. The
study replicated the excellent outcomes observed for cognitive therapy for PTSD in previous
trials (9-10), and is the first study to demonstrate that this treatment not only leads to a large
reductions in symptoms of PTSD, disability, anxiety and depression, but also to large
increases in quality of life.
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Some authors have expressed concerns about a risk of symptom exacerbation with trauma-
focused psychological treatments (6-7), and it is therefore noteworthy that both standard and
intensive cognitive therapy were well tolerated, in line with initial case reports of intensive
trauma-focused treatments (8, 36). Delivering cognitive therapy in an intensive format did
not increase dropout rates or symptom deterioration. Both the standard and intensive
cognitive therapy groups were less likely to be rated as having deteriorated on the CAPS
than those waiting for treatment. The present study thus underlines the safety of this
treatment approach. The feasibility of intensive cognitive therapy is of interest for
therapeutic settings where treatment needs to be conducted over a short period of time, such
as residential therapy units or occupational groups exposed to trauma, or where patients
have to get better quickly to avoid secondary complications such as job loss or marital
problems. The feasibility of intensive treatment is also of interest for patient choice, as some
patients m
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