Treatment for the Mental Health Impact of Killing in War

University of California, San Francisco8 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this project is to test the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a treatment module addressing the mental health and functional impact of killing in the war zone. The investigators will enroll between 12-20 Veterans who have killed in war and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for a pilot study assessing the efficacy of the six-session treatment. Veterans will be randomized either to the treatment or to the waitlist control group.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Interventions

Impact of Killing CBT TreatmentBEHAVIORAL

Treatment will include six, one hours sessions with a licensed clinical psychologist or an advanced postdoctoral fellow under the close supervision of a licensed psychologist.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 70 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of PTSD * Veteran will need to endorse having taken another life in a war zone context * Have received some prior evidence-based treatment for PTSD Exclusion Criteria: * Meet current or lifetime criteria for a psychotic disorder * Participants in current PTSD treatment will not be excluded;however,if receiving medications they will need to be stabilized on current medications for at least one month. * If receiving Prolonged Exposure Therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, individuals will need to wait two weeks after they have completed the treatment to enroll in the study.

Locations (1)

San Francisco VA Medical Center

San Francisco, California, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in psychological symptoms as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90-R)

A brief multidimensional self-report inventory that screens for nine symptoms of psychopathology and provides three global distress indicators.

Time frame: Measured at baseline and study completion (week 7)

Secondary Outcomes

Change in killing-related maladaptive cognitions as measured by the Killing Cognitions Scale (KCS)

Assesses killing-related maladaptive cognitions

Time frame: Measured at baseline and study completion (week 7)

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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