PTSD Treatment for Veterans With Serious Mental Illness to Improve Functional Outcomes
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
PTSD is common among Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI). Co-occurring PTSD and SMI lead to poorer mental health and physical functioning than either diagnosis alone. Despite known high prevalence rates of PTSD in SMI populations as well as disparities in prevalence and treatment use for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC), little research has been done to: a) evaluate leading treatments for PTSD in individuals with SMI, and b) develop culturally responsive methods to integrate with PTSD treatments for SMI Veterans. This study aims to address research and clinical gaps by: a) testing the feasibility and acceptability of Written Exposure Therapy (WET), a VA evidence-based psychotherapy for PTSD in Veterans with SMI, and b) incorporating culturally responsive assessment methods. Results from this study will inform whether WET and culturally responsive assessment are feasible to implement, acceptable to Veterans with SMI, and worth examining in standard or optimized form in a larger clinical trial.
Description
Project Background: PTSD is prevalent among Veterans and others with serious mental illness (SMI), contributing to substantial mental and physical health impairments. Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a new evidence-based practice for PTSD that may have special clinical utility for Veterans with SMI and PTSD. However, such Veterans have been largely excluded from PTSD clinical trials, and no WET trials to date have focused on an SMI population. Further, there are significant race and ethnicity disparities in PTSD and SMI prevalence and treatment, even in Veterans Health Administration. For ins…