Using Emotion Regulation to Decrease Aggression in Veterans With PTSD — (EMDA)  

Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title: CAP - Using Emotion Regulation to Decrease Aggression in Veterans With PTSD

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Impulsive aggression (IA) is common among Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and PTSD is one of the most prevalent post deployment mental health conditions affecting Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans. An inability to manage one's emotions (emotion dysregulation) is an underlying mechanism of IA. Reducing IA and increasing use of PTSD evidence-based psychotherapies are two critical missions for the Veterans Health Administration.

This research supports these missions by providing a 3-session emotion regulation training (Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression) to Veterans in order to teach them how to manage emotions and prepare for PTSD treatment. This is an open trail, so all Veterans who meet the inclusion criteria will be allowed to receive the treatment. Each Veteran's level of aggression and emotion dysregulation will be measured at the beginning and end to the treatment. By enhancing Veterans' abilities to cope with trauma-related emotions and feel equipped to initiate PTSD treatments, this research aims to help Veterans decrease IA and ultimately recover from PTSD.

Clinical Trial Description

In this pilot study for the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, Shannon Miles, PhD, of the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa, Florida, and her study team will work with post-9/11 combat Veterans with PTSD and impulsive aggression. The Veterans will be identified as having impulsive aggression if they report having engaged in at least three episodes of aggression within the past month. The investigators will provide training in emotion regulation via an innovative three-session training called Managing Emotions to Reduce Aggression, or MERA.

The goal of the pilot study is to test the feasibility of MERA in reducing impulsive aggression. A secondary goal is to prepare Veterans for psychotherapy for PTSD. One reason that too few Veterans seek PTSD treatment may be that they fear that they will not be able to control their emotional responses when they begin treatment. The investigators for this study believe that equipping Veterans with emotion regulation skills and knowledge about PTSD treatments may help them initiate, complete, and benefit from evidence-based psychotherapies.

MERA is provided in a three-session, condensed time frame to make it accessible to Veterans whose careers, school, and families compete with treatment time. The training is delivered in a group format and incorporates emotion education, cognitive-behavioral and acceptance-based skills training, and information about what emotional experiences to expect from PTSD treatments. Study participants will undergo weekly assessments for emotion regulation and aggression. Following the MERA training, study participants will be followed by CAP investigators to monitor whether they seek out, receive, and complete evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Aggression
• Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Stress Disorders, Traumatic

• NCT number: NCT02724787
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: VA Office of Research and Development
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 13, 2016
• Completion date: February 7, 2018