Does Evidence-Based PTS Treatment Reduce PTS Symptoms and Suicide in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Seeking VA Care?
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is one of the most common mental health problems among Service Members and Veterans. Studies find that 15%-22% of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans have PTS upon returning from their deployments. There are two types of psychotherapy treatments called Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) that can be helpful for those with PTS. Even though these two treatments are supported by research, many of those who need this care most do not use these treatments or start but do not finish these treatments. An important question that remains to be answered is whether those that receive either of these two treatments actually demonstrate PTS symptom improvement when they get these treatments outside of a research setting. Furthermore, given that suicide risk is increased for Iraq and Afghanistan Service Members and Veterans diagnosed with mental health disorders, including PTS, it is also important to better understand if suicidality improves after these PTS treatments, outside of a research setting. Finally, we want to make sure that those with PTS that have other common problems like traumatic brain injury or alcohol problems also improve outside of research. This is important because many of the research studies exclude people with these problems, so we want to see how individuals with these problems do in a realistic clinical setting when they receive PE or CPT. The first goal of this project is to determine if PE and CPT psychotherapies improve PTS and suicidality symptoms when examining Veterans across the country that get treatment at a Veteran s Administration hospital. Given that many Veterans do not complete treatment, we also want to better understand the factors that make it more likely for Veterans to complete these treatments (age, gender, etc.). Finally, our last goal includes understanding whether timing of receiving these treatments (soon after returning from deployment, after a delay, or not at all) impacts whether Veterans improve on PTS and suicide symptoms. We are particularly interested in whether those with PTS and other mental health-related conditions (TBI, alcohol, etc.) improve. This study will improve the care that Service Members and Veteran receive to treat their PTS by determining whether these psychotherapies are helpful outside of research settings. This information can be used to improve systems that deliver care for Service Members and Veterans and help inform those providing mental health care. Also, better understanding which individuals are likely to drop out of care will assist in being able to target at-risk groups so that they do not fall through the cracks and can receive the care they need to heal. This will also help providers better understand how timing of PTS care is related to whether or not Veterans mental health symptoms improve. For example, if we find that engaging in care more quickly actually impacts the extent to which Veterans mental health symptoms improve, this can influence the way that particular types of care are delivered. This is particularly important for those with PTS and other mental health problems, given that those with multiple problems tend to face certain barriers to engaging in care. Overall, this project is beneficial to Service Members, Veterans, and their families by directly examining various aspects of the care they receive for PTS, one of the most prevalent mental health problems. This study can answer questions that have not previously been researched because of the limitations in how PTS treatments are documented. Because of new technologies that allow us to glean certain information from Veterans medical records, we can now ask questions that are directly related to their PTS care. The answers we obtain from this research will allow us to improve mental health care, better understand who needs more specialized care, and track whether certain aspects of care that can be modif
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 29, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510038
Entities
People
- Shira Maguen
Organizations
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education
- United States Army