The development of a couple-based treatment for PTSD in returning veterans.

Abstract

Military personnel deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) show high levels of emotional distress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and these deploymentrelated problems may be expected to have a devastating impact on their relationships. It is urgent that researchers develop couple-based treatments to reduce PTSD in OEF/OIF veterans and to reduce PTSD-related relationship problems. This article describes the development of a novel couple-based treatment for PTSD, called Structured Approach Therapy (SAT), that uses empathic communication training and stress inoculation procedures to help couples improve their ability to cope with traumarelated anxiety and a multicomponent emotion activation program to help couples reduce emotional numbing. The theoretical basis of the SAT Treatment Model is described, and the various treatment components are presented. The authors recommend that couple-based interventions be used to provide OEF/OIF veterans and their partners with empathic communication skills to discuss their thoughts and feelings about deployment and with dyadic coping skills to confront trauma-related aversive emotions and emotional numbing and return intimacy to their lives.