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As mental-health burden rises, are promising new therapies getting enough serious research?

TRTP (The Richards Trauma Process)

Key Facts:

• Published online in Pilot and Feasibility Studies on 4 June 2026.
• First formal published study of The Richards Trauma Process (TRTP).
• Australian before-after single-arm feasibility trial with no control group.
• 23 of 40 eligible new clients consented and commenced TRTP; 20 completed therapy and one-month follow-up.
• Treatment completers averaged about six hours of therapy.
• Findings support a larger controlled trial, not proof of efficacy.

Recent global data are intensifying pressure on mental-health systems and raising a harder question: are promising additional therapy options being tested rigorously enough alongside established care?

A newly published Australian feasibility study is now being cited as one example of why that question matters. The study examined The Richards Trauma Process (TRTP), a brief trauma-focused psychotherapy, and concluded that a larger controlled trial is warranted.

In the study, 23 of 40 eligible new adult clients commenced TRTP, 20 completed therapy and one-month follow-up, and participants who completed therapy averaged 3.2 sessions or about 6.1 hours of treatment. Among those 20 completers, 18 showed clinically meaningful improvement and no clinically meaningful deterioration was reported in the paired outcome data.

Researchers said the findings should be interpreted carefully. The study was a before-after single-arm feasibility trial, with no randomisation and no control group, so it does not establish that TRTP caused the observed improvements.

Even so, the study found recruitment and retention were feasible, data collection worked in a community setting, and the intervention appeared acceptable and safe in this pilot sample. Eleven of 15 feasibility criteria were met, and the study concluded that a larger definitive trial would be warranted.

Dr Petrina Barson said the broader story was not that one early pilot had solved mental health, but that rising burden should sharpen the case for testing promising additional options properly and transparently.

"Our study suggests TRTP is feasible to study in a community setting and that larger controlled trials are warranted, but it is not proof of efficacy," Dr Barson said.

Judith Richards said TRTP was created from lived experience and had been used in practice for years, but that what matters now is disciplined research rather than hype.

"People deserve to understand what a therapy may help, what it may not, and what still needs to be tested," Ms Richards said.

The broader message is not to abandon existing evidence-based care. It is to do more disciplined research on what else may help.

Research Overview: https://trtptherapy.com/research/

Notes to Editors

• The article is titled The Richards Trauma Process: a before-after single-arm feasibility trial of a novel psychotherapy.
• It is available online as an Article in Press / citable early-access version in Pilot and Feasibility Studies.
• DOI: 10.1186/s40814-026-01856-0. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40814-026-01856-0
• The paper describes the study as a before-after single-arm feasibility trial with no control group. The authors state that the findings support feasibility and further study, but do not establish causation or proof of efficacy.
• Ethics approval was obtained through the University of Melbourne (Ref. 24751).
• The trial was retrospectively registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12625001423404).

About us:

Trauma Therapy Training Inc supports information, practitioner education and research communication relating to The Richards Trauma Process (TRTP), a brief trauma-focused psychotherapy created by Judith Richards. The organisation shares information about formal research on TRTP, including the published feasibility study, and provides access to background material through its Research pages.

Contact details:

Blair Chinnery - General Manager

[email protected]

0484 579 324