Helpful aspects of a psychoeducational program for individuals with complex dissociation: An update for the Finding Solid Ground program - 13/06/25
, Jerrica L. Robertson b
, Briana L. Snyder c
, Bethany L. Brand b, ⁎
, Hygge J. Schielke d, e
, Ruth A. Lanius f 
Highlights |
• | Clients found the Finding Solid Ground program to be helpful as a therapy adjunct. |
• | The contents of the program and its carefully paced structure were helpful for clients. |
• | The program positively facilitated clients’ therapy processes and outcomes. |
• | Clients' positive experiences were consistent with an earlier version of the program. |
• | Therapists can use the program in their treatment with clients with complex trauma and dissociation. |
Abstract |
The Finding Solid Ground program is a psychoeducational program that is grounded in research on individuals with complex trauma histories and dissociative symptoms, experiences that can be distressing and impairing. A randomized controlled trial examining the use of the Finding Solid Ground program in conjunction with individual therapy found the program to outperform individual therapy alone and have large effect sizes after one year (Brand et al., 2025). The current study investigated interim qualitative data from clients who participated in the randomized controlled trial. The primary aim of this study was to understand clients’ experiences of the Finding Solid Ground program. In the current study, we conducted a deductive content analysis using Pierorazio et al.’s (2024) framework for coding. Results revealed that clients experienced the components of the Finding Solid Ground program as helpful (i.e., its content and structure). They experienced improved therapeutic processes (i.e., increased sense of connection, receiving empathy, contributing to something larger, and improved therapeutic work) and outcomes (i.e., increased insight, hope, self-compassion, safety, and functioning). These findings are consistent with clients’ experiences of an earlier version of the Finding Solid Ground program and suggest that the program facilitates helpful processes and outcomes when used as an adjunct to individual psychotherapy. This research is positioned in dialogue with promising quantitative results from the Finding Solid Ground randomized controlled trial (Brand et al., 2025). Together, this study and other research on the Finding Solid Ground program suggest therapists can use the program to promote clients’ healing from complex trauma and dissociation.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Complex trauma, Dissociation, Qualitative, Deductive content analysis
Plan
| A version of this work was presented as a paper talk at the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation’s 42nd Annual Conference. Bethany L. Brand, Hygge J. Schielke, and Ruth A. Lanius receive royalties from books published on the psychoeducational program that was under study in this article: Finding Solid Ground: Overcoming Obstacles in Trauma Treatment and The Finding Solid Ground Program Workbook: Overcoming Obstacles in Trauma Recovery. None of the other authors have any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to disclose. |
Vol 9 - N° 3
Article 100566- septembre 2025 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
L’accès au texte intégral de cet article nécessite un abonnement.
Déjà abonné à cette revue ?
