Comparing Group Therapies for Veterans With Depression and PTSD

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a brief, efficient, and effective psychotherapy for individuals with depressive and PTSD. However, CBT is largely underutilized within Veteran Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) due to the cost and burden of trainings necessary to deliver the large number of CBT protocols. Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT), in contrast, is specifically designed to address numerous distinct disorders within a single protocol. The transdiagnostic approach of TBT has the potential to dramatically improve the accessibility of CBT within VAMCs and therefore improve clinical outcomes of Veterans. The proposed research seeks to evaluate the efficacy of a group version of TBT (G-TBT) by assessing clinical outcomes and quality of life in VAMC patients with major depressive disorder and PTSD throughout the course of treatment and in comparison to two existing group disorder-specific therapies (G-DST), CBT for Depression and Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD.