Community-Based Telemedicine to Reduce Risk to Georgia Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
| Status: | Completed |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Psychiatric |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Psychiatry / Psychology |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | Any |
| Updated: | 2/4/2013 |
| Start Date: | March 2012 |
| End Date: | January 2014 |
| Contact: | Michelle Hammond-Susten, MSW, LCSW |
| Email: | mhammo3@emory.edu |
| Phone: | 404.727.8964 |
Community-Based Telemedicine to Reduce Risk to Georgia Veterans With PTSD
The investigator proposes to examine treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder for
Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan provided through telemedicine which connects
patients to doctors in different locations using the internet. In this study, Veterans will
receive prolonged exposure therapy (PE). This treatment has been shown to be effective in
reducing PTSD symptoms. For this study 9 weekly 90 minute sessions will be given over a
period of up to 3 months. The first 2 sessions of each treatment will involve education,
rational and treatment preparation. Sessions 3-9 will consist of recounting the traumatic
event out loud and repeatedly. The purpose of this study is to determine if this treatment
is effective when given through telehealth. To this end, the investigators propose to enroll
up to 20 individuals who will access the investigators services through the GA telehealth
network who has hundreds of telehealth sites across the state of Georgia. Patients will go
to these sites to access the investigators therapists using GA telehealth equipment. The
investigators hypothesize that PE delivered remotely through telemedicine will work to
reduce the symptoms of PTSD.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Participants must meet DSM-IV criteria for PTSD due to exposure to a trauma
while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan,
and/or Operation New Dawn.
- Patients must be literate in English.
- Patients must be medically healthy or medically stable such that the stress of the
therapy is not contraindicated.
- Participants must comprehend his or her role in treatment and the risks involved in
order to be entered.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients with a history of mania, schizophrenia, or other psychoses
- Patients with prominent suicidal ideation
- Patients with current alcohol or drug dependence
- Patients with special medical conditions such as pregnancy, renal insufficiency,
those with various chronic diseases or a history of significant head injury
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