Virtual Reality and Cellular Phones as a Complementary Intervention for Veterans with PTSD and Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary randomized controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy a novel adjunctive behavioral intervention for Veterans (N = 38) with PTSD and co-occurring addiction. The experimental intervention was conducted during 10 weeks of prolonged exposure (PE) for PTSD, and used a virtual reality-based cue exposure platform to reduce craving to addiction-related cues coupled with cellular phones to deliver reminders of learning to extinguish cravings. Participants were randomized to receive PE alone or PE augmented by exposure with portable extinction reminders. Results indicate that the intervention is feasible to implement and acceptable to participants as an adjunct to standard PE.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2013
Accession Number
AD1025212

Entities

People

  • Mark Z. Rosenthal

Organizations

  • Duke University Hospital

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acceptability
  • Addiction
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Depression
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Drug Abuse
  • Extinction
  • Health Services
  • Intervention
  • Mobile Phones
  • Psychiatry
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Virtual Reality

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

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