Richardson, T. orcid.org/0000-0002-5357-4281, Ferrie, O., Smith, D. et al. (6 more authors) (2025) Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation associated with poorer psychological therapy outcomes for PTSD: an audit of a single NHS talking therapies (IAPT) service. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 18. e9. ISSN 1754-470X
Abstract
Economic variables such as socioeconomic status and debt are linked with an increased risk of a range of mental health problems and appear to increase the risk of developing of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous research has shown that people living in more deprived areas have more severe symptoms of depression and anxiety after treatment in England’s NHS Talking Therapies services. However, no research has examined if there is a relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and outcomes for PTSD specifically. This study was an audit of existing data from a single NHS Talking Therapies service. The postcodes of 138 service users who had received psychological therapy for PTSD were used to link data from the English Indices of Deprivation. This was analysed with the PCL-5 measure of PTSD symptoms pre- and post-treatment. There was no significant association between neighbourhood deprivation measures on risk of drop-out from therapy for PTSD, number of sessions received or PTSD symptom severity at the start of treatment. However, post-treatment PCL-5 scores were significantly more severe for those living in highly deprived neighbourhoods, with lower estimated income and greater health and disability. There was also a non-significant trend for the same pattern based on employment and crime rates. There was no impact of access to housing and services or living environment. Those living in more deprived neighbourhoods experienced less of a reduction in PTSD symptoms after treatment from NHS Talking Therapies services. Given the small sample size in a single city, this finding needs to be replicated with a larger sample.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | CBT; deprivation; EMDR; IAPT; NHS Talking Therapies; post-traumatic stress disorder; poverty; PTSD; socioeconomic status; trauma |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 May 2025 09:41 |
Last Modified: | 08 May 2025 09:41 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/s1754470x25000029 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/s1754470x25000029 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:226091 |