TREATMENT OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER USING AUGMENTED IMAGINATION EXPOSURE PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH VOCAL FEEDBACK: AN ACCEPTABILITY STUDY

We now have many pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments for patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), including cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT) by reactivation of traumatic memories. Despite remarkable initial efficacy, only one-third of patients treated with CBT show lasting clinical improvement. On the other hand, the associated drop-out rates vary from 17% to 33%, which may be linked to the difficulty of the task, which implies reactivating the traumatic memory (Bradley et al. 2005). Alternative treatments for PTSD include blocking chemo-facilitated memory reconsolidation with a beta-blocker, propranolol. Briefly, reconsolidation theory posits that a recalled memory becomes unstable again before consolidating again into long-term memory, hence the term "reconsolidation". During this phase of transitory plasticity, the memory can be modulated, in particular its emotional charge. The use of propranolol has shown its benefit during this phase in patients suffering from PTSD (Brunet et al, 2018). However, the use of this facilitated chemo therapy is limited to patients with no contraindication to taking beta-blockers. In this context, a non-medicinal alternative to attenuate the emotional strength of the memory has a therapeutic interest. One of the ways in which our emotional experience can be modulated is through the perception of our emotional behavior. According to the theory of self-perception (Bem, 1972) individuals become aware or conscious of their attitudes, emotions and other internal states in part by inferring them from the observation of their own behaviors. Thus when individuals produce sounds or facial expressions typical of specific emotions such as joy, sadness or anger, they will tend to experience an emotional state congruent with their vocal or facial production (Hatfield and Hsee, 1995). Work on the influence of voice perception, in particular, is experiencing a new boom due to technical developments in the