Dr Reg Nixon
Flinders University, SA
Mental Health Research 2008
Reginald (Reg) D. V. Nixon B.A.(Hons), MPsychol, PhD Clinical Psychologist and Researcher, is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Flinders University. He has been involved in the treatment and research of trauma for the past 10 years. Dr Nixon graduated from the University of Sydney in 1996. He worked at the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Unit, Westmead Hospital/University of NSW, and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Center for Trauma Recovery, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA.
In 2005 Dr Nixon received the Tracy Goodall Early Career Award by the Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, and in 2007 the Australian Institute of Policy Science conferred a Young Tall Poppy Award. He is currently the Chief Investigator of four treatment studies investigating the treatment of acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adults.
Dr Nixon received a grant from Australian Rotary Health to investigate the efficacy of treating acute stress disorder in a community health setting.
SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT
Treatment of acute stress disorder secondary to sexual assault: Effectiveness of therapy in a community mental health setting.
Counselling for victims of sexual assault
Studies indicate that around 80% of women experience acute stress disorder two weeks after a sexual assault and that around 50% of these women will develop chronic Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). Dr Reg Nixon from Flinders University has received an Australian Rotary Health grant to evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) delivered by social workers in a community health setting to people experiencing acute stress disorder following sexual assault. CPT has been successful in university settings in treating stress disorders resulting from sexual assault. It is hoped that CPT will be more effective than usual treatment in rape crisis centres.
PROGRESS REPORT 2008
CPT training for Social Workers in a rape crisis centre has been completed and counsellors are currently using the new therapy with clients. Two clients are about to finish therapy. Feedback from counsellors is extremely positive although CPT therapy is quite different from that normally used. They report they are finding it very effective. Although it is too early to properly analyse data on the project, the reports of clients are consistent with therapists’ observations (i.e. clients are reporting reduction in post-trauma anxiety the further they go in therapy).
FINAL REPORT
The year 2010 saw 4,436 reports of sexual assault on both men and women in New South Wales alone. While a number of emotional side effects can occur as a result of a sexual assault, one of the more common effects in victims is anxiety, with sufferers often experiencing both physical and mental symptoms.
Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) has been used to effectively treat people with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder for a number of years, proving successful after traumatic events such as motor vehicle accidents. Though never previously used to treat sexual assault victims, Associate Professor Nixon’s study has recently proven it to be effective in the treatment of acute stress disorder secondary to sexual assault.
After comparing cognitive processing therapy with the regular counseling session approach used at the major sexual assault service in Adelaide, the findings proved that while both these approaches significantly reduced the post traumatic stress and depression in assault victims, cognitive processing therapy was actually considered the more effective treatment.
The study was deemed successful as patients were maintaining gains they had experienced during treatment. Counselors trained in the new therapy approach were also pleased with the procedure and were able to deliver it competently to patients.
The administration of this treatment within a three to four week period of the assault is the first of its kind in the world, as well as being the first time the effectiveness of training those who will be giving the treatment has been examined as well.
As a result of these successful findings, all counselors in the Adelaide sexual assault service will be trained to use cognitive processing therapy to ensure more Australian victims of sexual assault will benefit from this treatment. A current study based on these findings will prove if this therapy approach prevents the development of more chronic forms of post traumatic anxiety.