Trial reportDepression and anxiety2020
Separation anxiety in PTSD: A pilot study of mechanisms in patients undergoing IPT.
Trial report in Depression and anxiety, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Reflective Function as a Mediator of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Trauma-focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for LGBT Patients With Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interpersonal psychotherapy versus sertraline for women with posttraumatic stress disorder following recent sexual assault: a randomized clinical trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Trial
- Evaluation of SHAPE cognitive therapy coaching for PTSD and depression symptoms in healthcare workers repeatedly exposed to trauma.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Adult separation anxiety and insomnia symptoms in individuals with mood and anxiety disorders.Neuroscience applied · 2026Article
- The urge to fill the void: Emptiness, impulsivity, and mentalizing in the daily life of individuals with borderline personality disorder.Personality disorders · 2025Article
- Changes in avoidance and distress related to trauma reminders in PTSD psychotherapy.Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry · 2023Article
- Changes in attachment dimensions during the treatment of acute post-traumatic stress disorder in sexually assaulted Brazilian women.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- [Separation anxiety disorder].Der Nervenarzt · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionSeparation anxiety disorder (SAD) comprises one aspect of attachment dysregulation or insecurity. Although SAD aggravates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk, no clinical research has tracked how many patients with PTSD have SAD, its clinical associations, or its response to PTSD treatment. Our open trial of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) for veterans with PTSD assessed these SAD domains.
methodsTwenty-nine veterans diagnosed with chronic PTSD on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale were assessed for SAD using the Structured Clinical Interview for Separation Anxiety Symptoms (SCI-SAS), and for Symptom-Specific Reflective Function (SSRF), another dysregulated-attachment marker capturing patients' emotional understanding of their symptoms. Patients received 14 IPT sessions for PTSD with assessments at baseline, Week 4 (SCI-SAS and SSRF), and termination for SAD, PTSD, and depression.
resultsAt baseline, 69% of patients met SAD criteria. Separation anxiety did not correlate with baseline PTSD severity, depressive severity, or age when traumatized; patients with and without SAD had comparable PTSD and depression severity. Patients with baseline comorbid SAD who completed IPT (N = 17) reported significantly improved adult separation anxiety (p = .009). Adult SAD improvements predicted depressive improvement (p = .049). Patients with SAD showed a stronger relationship between early SSRF gains and subsequent adult SAD improvement (p = .021) compared with patients without SAD. DISCUSSION: This first exploration of dysregulated/insecure attachment features among patients with PTSD found high SAD comorbidity and adult SAD improvement among patients with SAD following IPT. Highly impaired attachment patients normalized attachment posttreatment: 14-session IPT improved attachment dysregulation. This small study requires replication but begins to broaden clinical understanding of separation anxiety, attachment dysregulation, and PTSD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.