Trauma-focused Group Music and Imagery with Women Suffering from PTSD/Complex PTSD: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background: Women with a history of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Meta-analyses report that cognitive behavioural therapies (CBTs), followed by eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) are the most studied psychotherapies for trauma treatment. Focus primarily lies on individual therapy – even though some studies on group therapy for trauma treatment also exist. Few studies exist regarding other alternative therapy forms, such as art-based psychotherapies or body-focused therapies. Aim: This study investigated effects from the group music and imagery (GrpMI) method – a type of receptive music therapy – on trauma-related symptoms in women suffering from PTSD or CPTSD after physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuse. Material and methods: Using a randomized controlled parallel-group design, a sample of 45 women were either assigned to a treatment group (T) who received 12 weekly treatment sessions of GrpMI or to a waiting list control group (WLC). Self-report scales were administered immediately before and after the intervention and at a three-month follow-up Results: A two-way mixed ANOVA showed a large group-by-time interaction effect on PTSD symptom severity (F(1, 42) = 8.68, p = .005 and Cohen's d = 0.94). A repeated-measures ANOVA showed a large effect within the T group (F(1, 20) = 16.6, p = .001, d _av = 1.02), and the improvement remained at follow-up. The drop-out rate in the T group was as low as 4.5%. Conclusion: The findings suggest that GrpMI may be efficacious for treating women with PTSD/CPTSD, but further controlled studies with larger samples are warranted. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov