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Funded by a £2 million award from the , the four-year trial was led by Professor Anke Ehlers, from the , and Dr Michael Duffy, Director of the CMHaT and from the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s.  

The conference was attended by Health and Social Care (HSC) trial therapists, Trust mental health managers, the trial patient and public involvement group and clients, leads, and Queen’s staff and students. 

Complex ?(CPTSD) is a distressing and disabling mental disorder. It is common among people who have experienced prolonged or repeated severe traumas, such as childhood abuse or multiple experiences of civil conflict but can also occur after other traumas. Trauma focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is recommended as first-line treatments for PTSD, however, there is limited evidence about which therapies or treatments work best for Complex PTSD.  

While many clinicians and researchers advocate a phased approach to treating CPTSD, there is limited empirical evidence that phased interventions are more effective or acceptable than standard trauma-focused interventions. The aim of the study was to investigate whether a phased version of trauma-focused cognitive therapy (TF-CT) for PTSD is superior to standard TF-CT in the treatment of CPTSD. 

The conference was opened by Professor Robin Hickey, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Queen’s. He said: “We at Queen’s are very proud to have co-led a study of this scale that can advance knowledge and improve therapies for such conditions. Queen’s places great importance on our collaboration with colleagues in Oxford and the NHS/HSC Trusts. Such partnerships enable vital research work of this complexity to be carried out, and secure the grants necessary to undertake it. The University wishes to record our thanks to NIHR for awarding £2 million to Oxford and Queen’s for this study.” 

Heather Stevens, Director of Mental Health at the Department of Health commented: “At the Department of Health we are very interested in the trial findings and how this study can help us to implement the objectives of the new Mental Health Strategy. The cost of mental illness is huge in both human and economic terms. We encourage such high-quality research that can enhance treatments and improve patient outcomes.” 

During the conference, co-leads in the trial, Dr Kevin Dyer and Dr Ciaran Mulholland from Queen’s, reflected on the importance of such studies to develop the evidence base for treatments that work in our mental health services, and of the impact of trauma-related conditions in Northern Ireland due to the enduring legacy of our recent conflict.  

Dr Michael Duffy said: “Such a study design, involving 10 sites across England and Northern Ireland presents many challenges and I want to thank and congratulate all involved in delivering the trial to such high standards. The study has attracted a lot of international interest, and we plan to share the findings widely over the next year.” 

Further contributions were made by Dr Deborah Lee, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, supervisor for the phased arm, and Mr Brendan Armstrong from Queen’s, supervisor for the non-phased arm, who presented on the challenges but also the potential for enhancing therapist knowledge and skills in a real-world trial.  

And finally, trial participant Ken Brown, addressed the conference, explaining how the trial had changed his life for the better. Read more about Ken’s story here: /about/civic-engagement/180/finding-light-after-darkness.html  

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Media enquiries to Zara McBrearty on email: z.mcbrearty@qub.ac.uk