Self-help for Posttraumatic Stress

 
Online self-help tools offer education and coping skills to those affected by trauma, in addition to effective treatments for PTSD. These tools can also be useful for everyday stress management.
Introducing PTSD Coach Online
Stressed? Angry? Bothered by reminders of war, an accident, assault, or disaster? Try PTSD Coach Online. Choose from 17 tools to help you manage stress and specific symptoms after trauma, such as:

• negative thinking
• reminders of the trauma
• anxiety or sleep problems

Our video coaches will guide you.
Get started with PTSD Coach Online. Learn to form good sleep habits, be in the moment, or change negative thinking patterns.
Please share your feedback: [email protected].
Mobile Apps
Find mobile apps that provide coping tools and support treatment for PTSD.
If you have a smartphone, try the PTSD Coach Mobile App (for iOS and Android). This Coach is with you when you need it! And now you can access CBT-i Coach for sleep problems on Android, as well as iOS.
Other Training in Coping Skills

• Moving Forward: This educational and life coaching program teaches problem solving skills to help you handle life’s challenges.
• The Drinker’s Check-up: A self-guided tool that allows you to better understand your drinking, including health risks that it might pose.
• Parenting: Strategies and tips for Service Members and Veterans to help you reconnect after deployment.
• My Goals: On My HealtheVet, find goal-setting support to help with life changes.

For Providers

Self-help tools also serve as clinical tools. Patients can take an active role in their own treatment and recovery. Share these psychoeducation and self-care tools with your clients:

• Using AboutFace: Real PTSD Stories: An online video gallery, AboutFace, can be used as a teaching tool and resource to share with other providers, students, or clients. Also see PTSD Coach Online: Self-Help and Coping for Clients.
• PTSD Handouts and Materials for Printing: Resources for your clients and their families.
• Mobile Apps: Our apps provide self-help, education and support. And to make treatment easier, try treatment companion apps designed for use with your patients.

DSM-5 Measures
The PCL-5 and other DSM-5 measures will soon be available. Updates will be posted in our Assessments Section. (VA Staff: Find more on DSM-5 at vaww.ptsd.va.gov)

For VA Providers

VA Monthly Lecture Series
Subscribe: Learn about our PTSD Lectures
VA staff, please sign up for VA Staff PTSD Updates to receive monthly notices that include a registration link and instructions for joining these live lectures:
PTSD Psychopharmacology Best Practices
3rd Wednesday of each month, 2 pm ET

• 10/16 – Ilene Robeck will present on PTSD: a Team Based Approach

VA PTSD Consultation Program Lecture Series
3rd Tuesday of each month, 2 pm EST

• 10/15 – Anouk Grubaugh on Assessing and Treating PTSD in Veterans with a Psychotic Disorder

VA PTSD Consultation Program
Free PTSD consultation for anyone working with Veterans. Call 866-948-7880 or email [email protected].

Research at the Center

Efficacy of Self-help Interventions
The development of online self-help interventions has increased, yet research into their efficacy is scarce. The Center just completed data collection for an evaluation of PTSD Coach Online. A nationally-representative sample of over 1000 adults with varying levels of PTSD tried one of the online tools. Data on well-being and coping before and after Coach use, and usability ratings will inform revisions of PTSD Coach Online and future PTSD products.

PTSD in the News

Prevailing over Inner Struggles. An unexpected thank you in a speech by this Medal of Honor recipient. Watch Video.*
No, PTSD Doesn’t Cause Mass Shootings. A Salon staff writer comments on the events leading up to the Washington Navy Yard Shooting. Read more.*
Online Intervention for Problem Drinking Works for PTSD, Too. Learn about this web-based cognitive-behavioral intervention. Read more in the current issue of Clinician’s Trauma Update – Online.

Be sure to forward this update to others so they can subscribe. We send only one update per month to keep you informed of the latest PTSD developments.
Feature Topic next month: Sleep Problems
The Staff of VA’s National Center for PTSD