Examining Changes in Microbiota Over the Course of PTSD Treatment

The overall goals of this project are to evaluate the use of 5-day intensively-delivered Cognitive Processing Therapy to treat PTSD and to determine the associations between the microbiome, salivary cytokines, and the presence of and recovery from PTSD. Specifically, this study is designed to 1) determine whether individual Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) delivered twice per day over 5 consecutive days (CPT-5) is tolerable, acceptable, and effective in reducing PTSD symptoms, 2) determine the microbial signatures associated with PTSD, 3) evaluate whether the abundance and composition of microbiota and salivary cytokine levels change over the course of PTSD treatment, and 4) examine whether changes in microbial signatures are associated with changes in cytokine levels.