Enhancement of PTSD Treatment With Computerized Executive Function Training

This study focuses on helping Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) benefit fully from therapy by first enhancing their thinking abilities. PTSD has been associated with thinking problems, including difficulty planning/organizing, thinking flexibly, and inhibiting distracting emotional information. There is some evidence that computerized training programs are helpful for improving thinking. Therefore, this study tests whether computerized cognitive training will in fact improve individuals' thinking abilities and if this will in turn improve PTSD treatment outcomes and lead to more individuals completing treatment and showing greater improvements in emotional symptoms and quality of life than standard therapy (when paired with a word training condition).