A single course of treatment is usually all that’s required, delivered through a national network of therapists, trained in HGT (Human Givens Therapy) - a successful therapy for dealing with mental distress.


Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the principal purpose of PTSD Resolution?

The PTSD Resolution charity was established with three objectives: to treat veterans with mental health difficulties; to promote research into better ways of treating stress-related problems of ex-services people, in particular PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder); and to educate the public in the nature, causes and potential cures for these problems.

 

2. When did you set the charity up?

The PTSD Resolution project has been running since January 2007. It has operated to date as a project inside another well-established mental health charity, the Human Givens Foundation (www.hgfoundation.com). Resolution is incorporated as an independent charitable body with the UK Charity Commissioners. Registered Charity No. 1133188.


3. What exactly does the charity do?

Treatment involves one-to-one confidential sessions with a PTSD Resolution programme therapist on an out-patient basis. In the treatment, the objective is to break the link between the memory and emotional response, using the patient’s own innate mental resources. By reducing anxiety levels connected to the memories the patient is enabled to re-experience the traumatic event without further distress.

Resolution treatment is brief, so that there is no continuing reliance upon therapy. A course of treatment usually involves four sessions on average, each of around one hour’s duration. The goal is to enable each patient to return to as normal a family, social and work life as possible, in the shortest possible time. Progress is measured at the start of each session using the ‘Impact of Events Scale’, commonly used by trauma therapists in the NHS.

Resolution treatment is based upon well-established methods developed for Human Givens Therapy, a branch of psychology and psychotherapy which initially focused on the treatment of mental distress in the general population when established in 1997.

Resolution has access to a network of 150 therapists, trained by and registered with the Human Givens Institute, and specialises in helping only former services personnel.

Therapists in the PTSD Resolution programme use Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which is a treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

In addition to compliance with NICE guidelines, the PTSD Resolution treatment is designed to accommodate the special circumstances of veterans of the armed services. Treatment does not require the patient to talk about the events that may have caused the traumatic memory. Any referencing of the incidents during treatment that may be necessary is undertaken as sympathetically as possible, with the patient in a highly relaxed state, to avoid further distress.

The patient’s calm state during treatment, and the absence of any verbal recounting of the traumatic episode, ensure that the PTSD Resolution version of trauma-focused CBT is as compassionate and supportive as possible, as well as fully compliant with NICE guidelines.The treatment programme is sensitive to the particular cultural background and trauma issues associated with the armed services. The methods used do not require the therapist to have any knowledge of the particular traumatic event: this ensures confidentiality and protects both the patient and therapist from further trauma. Unlike some other treatment settings, Resolution therapists work with other conditions that may co-exist with PTSD - such as alcohol and drug use, depression, anger and relationship issues.

Treatment uses a combination of techniques: ‘deep relaxation’; ‘imaginal exposure’, where a patient is asked to imagine the feared situation; and ‘cognitive reconstruction’, to help the client reassess a rigidly-held position on the event that occurred. All of these are components of treatments recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).

4. Why was it set up - a reflection of poor MOD/NHS care?

Resolution was set up to make therapy more available, more quickly to people who need it: the provision of NHS and other treatment services can be patchy in terms of waiting times and effectiveness.

A distinctive quality of PTSD Resolution’s methods is that therapy is as ‘humane’ as possible: alternative treatments often require the patient to talk about the traumatic events responsible for the PTSD. It was found that with Human Givens Therapy, on which PTSD Resolution is based, that this is not necessary in order to deal effectively with the symptoms.

NICE Compliant, it is complementary to other programmes for veterans. It deals effectively with the immediate symptoms of PTSD, such as flashbacks and nightmares, that otherwise inhibit progress in treating other problems such as addiction and addressing homelessness, for example

A further aim of PTSD Resolution is to promote more research through a Randomised Control Trial in two selected prisons, in order to qualify for formal approval by NICE.

 

  

5. What makes the charity different from others - (Combat Stress)?

PTSD Resolution was set up to offer treatment that offered advantages in speed, cost, convenience, privacy and effectiveness over other generally available programmes.

Resolution is complementary to treatment offered by Combat Stress, (www.combatstress.org.uk) which provides longer term, in-patient support. Resolution offers the option for out-patient treatment which will usually enable the patient to be symptom-free in a very short period of time. A course is often available close to where patients live, through a large network of therapists around the UK, rather than requiring residential care, perhaps far from the patient’s home.

There are no lengthy procedures to assess entitlement to help, such as through referrals, service record, or medical history - as the case of most alternative programmes in the sector. All ex-service people are eligible for treatment by a qualified therapist through PTSD Resolution, free of charge.

6. How many soldiers have you treated?

To December 2, 2009, 50 ex-service people have received treatment from Resolution – although many thousands of stress-related cases from the general population have been treated with Human Givens Therapy, on which the Resolution treatment is based. There is outcome data on 599 of these in the HGIPRN - http://www.hgiprn.org - study, showing a similar rate of success and treatment duration to the PTSD Resolution cases.

7. Can you evidence the success that PTSD Resolution has had?

Resolution is the outcome of a pilot project with The Falklands Veterans Foundation which helped a number of ex-service people to recover from PTSD after 25 years of symptoms: these include nightmares, alcoholism, marriage breakdown and criminal convictions.

The method Resolution uses is an empirically proven treatment with a better than 80 per cent success rate in treating PTSD in 50 UK veterans of the armed services to date, as measured using the ‘Impact of Events Scale’, a trauma measure recommended by the Department of Health.

A further 599 stress-related cases from the general population have been treated in a study using Human Givens Therapy, on which Resolution therapy is based - http://www.hgiprn.org. HGT achieved a recovery rate of over 70 per cent, with a mean of 3.6 treatment sessions.

There have been several studies examining the success of the same core method used by PTSD Resolution in trauma treatment: including A new technique for treating post-traumatic stress disorder, Muss, D.C., 1991, BJCP, 30, 91-92, a report on the treatment of West Midlands Police officers with PTSD, and Elimination of post-traumatic symptomatology by relaxation and visual-kinaesthetic dissociation, Hossack, A., and Bentall, R. P., 1996, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 1, a report on treatment of victims of the Hillsborough disaster.

8. What about cost?

A single treatment programme with PTSD Resolution costs £600: this sum is considerably less than almost every other form of private treatment currently available for PTSD, which often involves residential care. Resolution currently provides this treatment free of charge to the sufferer, and is seeking donations to pay for treatment for more ex-service people suffering these symptoms - many of whom may have been out of work for a considerable period of time.

 




  
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