VISN 17 Center of Excellence
rTMS Augmented Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD in Veterans
The VISN 17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans (CoE) at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) is looking for Veterans to volunteer for research that uses a noninvasive brain stimulation paired with writing therapy to better understand treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
PTSD
The public health consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are substantial and significantly impact families and society. Civilian rates of lifetime PTSD range from 6.4 to 7.8% in national surveys and veteran lifetime rates have been estimated to be as much as 25% for military personnel returning from a war zone. PTSD is one of the most common consequences of war zone deployment with estimates of up to 11% of veteran men and nearly 9% of women having a diagnosis of PTSD from a current deployment. The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have contributed to significant increases in veterans needing PTSD treatment with estimates of 25% of returning OEF/OIF military personnel being affected.
TMS
One potential treatment to reverse some of the damaging effects that PTSD causes in the brain is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimultion (rTMS). rTMS is a safe and non-invasive brain-based therapy that is currently FDA approved for treating depression when medications don’t seem to work well. The goal of rTMS in this study is to target the area of the brain involved with emotions and thoughts to see if the treatment, paired with counseling sessions, improves the brain’s ability to control negative emotions and thoughts. A review of rTMS use in PTSD found support for PTSD symptom improvement.
Written Exposure Therapy
Talk therapies such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE) therapy have shown to be helpful in reducing PTSD symptoms, but they usually take 12-15 sessions of meeting with a therapist and many people drop out before finishing. The therapy in this study, Written Exposure Therapy, only takes 5 sessions involving writing about trauma in a progressive and supportive way and is a research-based treatment for PTSD.
Who do we need?
- Veterans
- Ages 18-50
- With PTSD
- Able to attend 6 weekly visits at the Waco VA plus 2 monthly follow-ups.
- Without seizures, dementia, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia
How to Participate
If you are interested in participating or would like to know more about this study, please contact the CoE at 254-297-3951.
Oversight is provided by the Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System Institutional Review Board. To confirm this study is in good standing, please call (254) 654-6758.
Study Name: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) with Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD in Veterans Study ID number: 2021-003 ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05149534
About the Investigator
Crystal Lantrip, Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist and neurostimulation researcher at the VISN 17 Center of Excellence (CoE) for Research on Returning War Veterans; Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS), Doris Miller VA Medical Center, Waco, Texas. Dr. Lantrip has been a clinical provider and researcher in neuropsychology at the Central Texas VA since 2018 and was awarded a grant through VA Research and Development/CSR&D in 2022. She is the principal investigator for a study that is currently recruiting Veterans with diagnosed or suspected PTSD who are interested in getting treatment. The study is attempting to enhance the effects of written exposure therapy, an evidence-based type of journaling therapy for PTSD, with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive brain therapy. Pairing these two treatments is considered investigational research. She looks forward to continuing her work with Veterans with PTSD here in Central Texas and improving upon PTSD therapies for Veterans nation-wide.
