Development and refinement of the mobile anger reduction intervention for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Problematic anger is commonly reported among veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is associated with numerous psychosocial impairments. There is a clear need to develop innovative and effective anger interventions. One of the cognitive mechanisms associated with anger is the hostile interpretation bias, which is the tendency to interpret ambiguous interpersonal situations as hostile. The current study presents a successive cohort design methodology to develop and refine a mobile treatment application, entitled Mobile Anger Reduction Intervention (MARI), which uses interpretation bias modification techniques to modify hostile interpretation bias. METHOD: Two cohorts (total N = 13) of veterans with PTSD and problematic anger used the MARI application for 4 weeks. After each cohort, qualitative and quantitative data were used to modify the MARI application. The intervention is described, as well as the qualitative and quantitative findings and subsequent changes made to the mobile application based on participant feedback. RESULTS: Treatment adherence was high (90% of participants completed all sessions). Participants reported that they found the treatment helpful and easy to use and experienced improvements in hostile interpretation bias and problematic anger. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the utility of a successive cohort treatment design for the development of mobile interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing psychosocial functioning, suicide risk, and nonsuicidal self-injury between veterans with probable posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder.

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are each common among Unites States (U.S.) military veterans and frequently co-occur (i.e., PTSD+AUD). Although comorbid PTSD+AUD is generally associated with worse outcomes relative to either diagnosis alone, some studies suggest the added burden of comorbid PTSD+AUD is greater relative to AUD-alone than to PTSD-alone. Furthermore, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is more common among veterans than previously thought but rarely measured as a veteran psychiatric health outcome. This study sought to replicate and extend previous work by comparing psychosocial functioning, suicide risk, and NSSI among veterans screening positive for PTSD, AUD, comorbid PTSD+AUD, and neither disorder. METHODS: This study analyzed data from a national sample of N = 1046 U.S. veterans who had served during the Gulf War. Participants self-reported sociodemographic, functioning, and clinical information through a mailed survey. RESULTS: Veterans with probable PTSD+AUD reported worse psychosocial functioning across multiple domains compared to veterans with probable AUD, but only worse functioning related to controlling violent behavior when compared to veterans with probable PTSD. Veterans with probable PTSD+AUD reported greater suicidal ideation and NSSI than veterans with probable AUD, but fewer prior suicide attempts than veterans with probable PTSD. LIMITATIONS: This study was cross-sectional, relied on self-report, did not verify clinical diagnoses, and may not generalize to veterans of other military conflicts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings underscore the adverse psychiatric and functional outcomes associated with PTSD and comorbid PTSD+AUD, such as NSSI, and highlight the importance of delivering evidence-based treatment to this veteran population.