A NEWSLETTER FOR PROVIDERS WHO TREAT VETERANS

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Our Next Lecture

Delivering Prolonged Exposure for PTSD in 60-Minute Sessions:

Fitting What Works into Practice

Sheila A. M. Rauch, PhD, ABPP

Wednesday, November 19 at 2:00pm ET 

Photo by Vitaly Gariev

About the Presenter

Sheila A.M. Rauch, Ph.D., ABPP, co-led design and now serves as Deputy Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program and Director of Mental Health Research and Program Evaluation at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center. For over 20 years, Dr. Rauch’s work in VA and Academic Medical settings focuses on developing programs, conducting research, and providing PTSD and Anxiety Disorders treatment with the goal to improve access to effective mental health treatment. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed scholarly articles as well as many chapters and six books on anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  She developed an effective primary care based PTSD intervention that is in use across VA and many civilian settings and has also worked to get treatment out of the clinic and into the hands of those who need it with apps, self-guided workbooks, and web-based interventions. She is a fellow in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a fellow in the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.  She serves as a member of the Scientific Council of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.  Her recent books include Retraining the Brain and Making Meaning of Difficult Experiences.

About the Topic

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) (often called Processing Emotions Therapy with clients) is a manualized, effective, time-limited treatment for PTSD. PTSD practice guidelines consistently support PE as a first line treatment, including the 2023 Practice Guideline produced by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. PE typically includes eight to 15, 90-minute sessions. This longer session length can create a barrier to use in clinical settings where the standard is a 60-minute session. Recent research supports that PE can be effectively provided in 60-minute sessions without reducing the impact on PTSD and depression.  This presentation will review the research on 60-minute PE sessions and provide guidance to providers on how to implement PE in 60-minute sessions in clinical practice.

Upcoming Lectures

Featured Article

Prolonged Exposure for PTSD

Prolonged Exposure (PE) is one of the most studied treatments for PTSD. Based on the large number of studies showing it is effective for use across diverse patient presentations, PE has the strongest recommendation as a treatment for PTSD in every clinical practice guideline. PE is a trauma-focused psychotherapy that works to treat PTSD in patients with complicated presentations, including those with comorbidities such as substance use disorder.

Read the full version of this article

Free Resources

Resources to Support the Use of Prolonged Exposure (PE)

In addition to the brief whiteboard video mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter, we have several other resources available to support the delivery of Prolonged Exposure:

• AboutFace Prolonged Exposure page (or use the filter on the Watch Videos page to find more)
• PE Coach free treatment companion mobile app
• How to Help Your Loved One during PE Treatment (PDF)

New Brief Educational Videos

We recently added several patient and family education videos to cover important topics related to PTSD and effective treatment.  

Like our collection of "whiteboard" videos, these new illustrated videos are brief (< 5 minutes) and use plain language and an engaging format.

EXPLORE THE ENTIRE COLLECTION

• What is PTSD? and Treatment: Know Your Options (also available in Spanish*)
• "Evidence-based" Treatment
• Cognitive Processing Therapy
• Prolonged Exposure
• EMDR for PTSD
• Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD
• Present-Centered Therapy*
• Medications for PTSD*
• Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD
• PTSD and Substance Use Disorder*
• Improving Your Daily Life with PTSD Treatment*
• Disaster Recover Tips*

*new this year

Are you treating U.S. Veterans?

Our team of expert clinicians is available to consult with any healthcare provider treating U.S. veterans in any setting.   We can discuss assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, medications, collaborating with VA care, patient and family education, continuing education, and just about anything else related to veterans and PTSD.  No question is too big or too small. Contact us at PTSDconsult@va.gov or 866-948-7880.