Research aim: To investigate whether physical activity as an add-on to standard psychiatric treatment improves mental symptoms (PTSD, depression, anxiety), quality of life, functional capacity, pain coping, and body awareness. Assess if improvements in physical fitness (strength, endurance, balance, coordination) correlate with mental health improvements. Examine if hours spent on home exercises predict better outcomes. Compare the impact of Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) with mixed physical activity (MPA) on mental and physical health.

Design: Randomised controlled trial

Population: 318 trauma-affected refugees referred to treatment at CTP

Methods: Patients are randomized into three groups. All receive 6-7 months of standard psychiatric treatment (TAU). Two groups receive additional physical activity: one with BBAT and the other with MPA. Self-administered ratings are completed at baseline, mid-treatment, and post-treatment. Blinded observer-ratings for depression and anxiety are done at the start and end. The primary outcome is PTSD symptoms; secondary outcomes include depression, anxiety, quality of life, functional capacity, pain coping, body awareness, and physical fitness.

Primary investigator: Maja Sticker Nordbrandt, MD, PhD

Supervisors: Jessica Carlsson, MD, PhD and Erik Lykke Mortensen, Msc Psychology, PhD

Collaborative partners: Associate Professor Jonna Anne Jensen, Metropolitan University College, Professor Derrick Silove, Psychiatry Research & Teaching Unit, Liverpool Hospital, University of New South Wales, Executive director Jorge Aroche, The New South Wales Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS).

Publications

Stade, K., Skammeritz, S., Hjortkjær, C., & Carlsson, J. (2015). “After all the traumas my body has been through, I feel good that it is still working."–Basic Body Awareness Therapy for traumatised refugees. Torture, 25(1), 33-50.

Nordbrandt, M. S., Carlsson, J., Lindberg, L. G., Sandahl, H., & Mortensen, E. L. (2015). Treatment of traumatised refugees with basic body awareness therapy versus mixed physical activity as add-on treatment: Study protocol of a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 16, 1-12.

Nordbrandt, M. S., Sonne, C., Mortensen, E. L., & Carlsson, J. (2020). Trauma-affected refugees treated with basic body awareness therapy or mixed physical activity as augmentation to treatment as usual—A pragmatic randomised controlled trial. PLoS One, 15(3).

Mundy, S. S., Foss, S. L. W., Poulsen, S., Hjorthøj, C., & Carlsson, J. (2020). Sex differences in trauma exposure and symptomatology in trauma-affected refugees. Psychiatry research, 293, 113445.

Nordbrandt, M. S., Vindbjerg, E., Mortensen, E. L., & Carlsson, J. (2022). Chronicity of posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid pain as predictors of treatment response for trauma‐affected refugees. Journal of traumatic stress, 35(5), 1393-1404.