Using Emotion Regulation to Decrease Aggression in Veterans With PTSD

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02724787

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

24

Starts

2016-06-13

Expected to finish

2018-02-07

Last updated by the study team

2019-09-17

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: male. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Male Veteran who served in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation New Dawn (OND)
• Currently meets criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, determined by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-5
• Engaged in at least 3 self-reported impulsive aggression acts in the last month, measured by the Overt Aggression Scale.58:
• yelling
• throwing objects
• hitting objects/people in the last month
• Impulsive aggression is his/her primary form of aggression, determined by having a higher Impulsive Aggression subscore than a Premeditated Aggression subscore on the Impulsive Premeditated Aggression Scale
• Because aggressors are poor historians when reporting their aggression frequency, each Veteran must agree to allow an independent aggression rater (live-in partner, family member, or roommate) verify the number of aggressive acts, using the Overt Aggression Scale
• No psychotropic medication change for six weeks prior to the assessment and agreement not to ask for a medication change for the duration of the study

You may not qualify if…

• Veterans who meet the following criteria will be excluded:
• Previously began Prolonged Exposure (PE) or Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
• Is currently suicidal with intent of self-harm in the last week
• Is currently homicidal with plans to hurt a specific person
• Is unable to complete self-report measures
• Does not have an independent aggression rater
• Has severe alcohol consumption patterns (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), severe drug use consumption patterns (Drug Use Disorders Identification Test), active psychosis, or mania (MINI)
• Had a psychotropic medication change within 6 weeks prior to the pretraining assessment. Veterans receiving general mental health services or non- PE or CPT psychotherapy will be allowed to participate in this study

Where it is running

• James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL — Tampa, Florida, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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