Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Addiction, and Virtual Reality

Veterans, National Guardsmen, & Reservists with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and problems with addiction need a wider array of treatment options than what is currently available. The present project offers the promise of a complementary approach that uses computer-based interventions to augment exposure therapy for veterans with both PTSD and use alcohol, nicotine and/or other substances. If this new intervention is found to be efficacious in the present project, it would provide an alternative to standard treatment for a growing number of veterans who are at risk for lifetime problems with PTSD and addiction, but who may be unwilling to begin usual psychotherapy. This direct way of training new behavior in the clinic and extending learning into the real world is missing in treatments for many medical and psychiatric conditions. As such, the impact of this project could extend into treatment of a wide variety of other chronic conditions for which more powerful new treatments are needed. Veterans will be recruited from the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Durham VAMC) and local community.

Participants (N = 60) meeting full criteria for current diagnoses of both PTSD and at least one SUD were to be recruited through the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Durham VAMC). 100 participants were to be enrolled (sign the consent form) in order to identify 60 who meet inclusion/exclusion criteria. Actually 123 subjects signed consent and 38 subjects are considered ITT (intent to treat-met inclusion/exclusion criteria, randomized and showed to their first therapy session). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions-exposure therapy alone or exposure therapy + virtual reality (VR)-based exposure to cues for marijuana, cocaine, heroin, cigarette, and/or alcohol use, and (2) cellular phone-based reminders of learning (extinction reminders, or, ERs) to VR exposure. Matching between treatment groups was based on age, gender, severity of PTSD and substance use. In addition, to control for differential dropout and other changes in treatment due to cell phone use in the VR/ER condition, participants in the control condition also carried cell phones, and were randomly called three times a day via the automated server (same as the VR/ER condition). These calls were completed for assessment only, to obtain real time self-reports of substance use and cravings (without the ER). Comprehensive assessments were conducted at pre-treatment, 10 weeks (post-treatment), and at a 6-month follow-up.

The goals of this project are to examine the acceptability and feasibility of the complementary treatment and evaluate the effects of the complementary intervention on PTSD and substance use.

Inclusion criteria

• Meets SCID-I criteria for PTSD; criterion A stressor must be deployment related, and substance dependence; primary substance of dependence is cocaine, heroin, alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana
• Must be a Veteran
• Consents to outpatient treatment for PTSD and drug addiction

Exclusion criteria

• Full criteria met for current manic episode or psychotic disorder through using SCID-I interviews
• Pregnant at time of treatment
• IQ less than 70; unable to give consent; can not read
• current and chronic absence of shelter
• impending jail/prison for more than three weeks
• Court order to treatment, court order to treatment or to jail, or agency order to treatment or loss of child custody (due to inability to freely drop-out of treatment)
• Refuses to discontinue current mental health or drug abuse behavioral treatment (i.e., psychotherapy) or random assignment
• Suicide attempt or self-harm in the past 6 months