Evaluating Treatments for Suicidal Veterans With PTSD

NCT ID: NCT05974631

Last Updated: 2025-12-23

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 125 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-07-08
• Study Completion Date: 2027-08-31

Brief Summary

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a significant driver of suicide risk among Veterans, but there is a critical knowledge gap about how to treat PTSD among people at elevated risk for suicide. Although evidence-based treatments for PTSD reduce suicide risk, Veterans at high risk for suicidal behavior rarely receive these potentially life-saving treatments. Prior research suggests that a treatment that combines Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with the DBT Prolonged Exposure protocol (DBT PE) for PTSD improves both PTSD and suicide-related outcomes. This study will evaluate whether DBT + DBT PE improves these outcomes more than Prolonged Exposure plus suicide risk management, the gold standard VA care for this population. The proposed study will also examine factors that make it easier and harder to implement these treatments in VA settings. The results will help to inform treatment guidelines for this high-priority Veteran population.

Detailed Description

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a significant risk factor for suicide among Veterans. Evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for PTSD reduce suicide risk, but Veterans at elevated acute risk for suicide, such as those who have engaged in self-directed violence (SDV), rarely receive these treatments. This is largely due to the historical exclusion of high-risk individuals from PTSD treatment trials, which has resulted in a lack of evidence-based guidance about indicated treatments for this population. Without such guidance, clinicians are often reluctant to use EBPs for PTSD with suicidal individuals. A treatment that combines Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a suicide-focused EBP, with the DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT PE) protocol for PTSD has been developed for this high-risk population and shows promise in reducing both SDV and PTSD while being feasible, acceptable, and safe to deliver. However, a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) is needed. This study will compare the effectiveness of DBT + DBT PE to the current VHA gold standard of care for this population, Prolonged Exposure therapy augmented with suicide risk management (PE + SRM), while also examining the potential for implementation of both interventions in VHA.

Significance: There is a critical gap in knowledge about how to treat PTSD among individuals at high risk for suicidal behavior. As a result, VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines do not specify indicated treatment strategies for this population. Experts have recommended two approaches to facilitate the safe and effective use of EBPs for PTSD with individuals at elevated acute suicide risk, including combining these treatments with suicide-focused EBPs or augmenting them with suicide risk management strategies. This project will help to fill this critical gap by rigorously evaluating these two approaches among Veterans with SDV. The results will provide important information to inform guidelines about indicated treatments for this high-risk population.

Innovativeness: This will be the first large-scale RCT to evaluate treatments for PTSD among Veterans who have engaged in SDV, an HSR&D high priority group. The DBT + DBT PE intervention is the first treatment designed to address both SDV and PTSD, and results will indicate if this novel treatment improves outcomes compared to the current VHA gold standard of care. To facilitate more rapid implementation of these findings into clinical practice, implementation barriers and facilitators for both treatments will also be evaluated.

Specific Aims: This study will randomize 125 Veterans with PTSD, recent and repeated SDV, current suicidal ideation, and emotion dysregulation to DBT + DBT PE (intervention) or PE + SRM (control). Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that DBT + DBT PE will be superior to PE + SRM in improving clinical outcomes and engagement in trauma-focused treatment. Exploratory analyses will examine Veteran characteristics that may predict better engagement and outcomes in DBT + DBT PE versus PE + SRM. Aim 2 will examine barriers and facilitators to implementation of both treatments.

Methods: This is a multi-site hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial. Veterans will be treated in outpatient settings at three VA sites and assessed at 5 points over 16 months. A mixed-methods approach will be used to evaluate barriers and facilitators to implementation, including conducting interviews with 45 key stakeholders (Veterans, providers, and leadership).

Primary Outcomes/Endpoints: Primary outcomes will be reductions in SDV episodes at 16-month follow-up and reductions in PTSD severity at post-treatment.

Implementation/Next Steps: This project will provide much-needed information about how to safely and effectively treat PTSD among Veterans at elevated acute risk for suicide. If one or both treatments are found effective, Aim 2 will provide vital information about how to maximize future implementation success. Future implementation activities would be coordinated with the investigators' national operational partners.

Conditions

Self-directed Violence; Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Keywords

Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Suicide; Self-Injurious Behavior

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

DBT + DBT PE

This condition combines one year of standard Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with the DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT PE) protocol for PTSD.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Standard Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), including DBT individual therapy (1 hour/week), DBT group skills training (2 hours/week), between-session coaching (as needed during business hours), and therapist consultation team (1-1.5 hours/week).

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Prolonged Exposure protocol

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

DBT PE is designed to be integrated into DBT to formally treat PTSD once patients meet standardized readiness criteria. The core procedures are in vivo and imaginal exposure with processing that are delivered in individual therapy sessions (1.5 hours/week).

PE + SRM

This condition provides up to 18 sessions of Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD augmented with suicide risk management (SRM).

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Prolonged Exposure therapy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Standard PE is delivered in individual therapy sessions (1.5 hours/week) and uses the core procedures of in vivo and imaginal exposure with processing.

Suicide risk management

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Standard VA suicide risk management procedures, including comprehensive suicide risk assessment and safety planning.

Interventions

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Standard Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), including DBT individual therapy (1 hour/week), DBT group skills training (2 hours/week), between-session coaching (as needed during business hours), and therapist consultation team (1-1.5 hours/week).

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Prolonged Exposure protocol

DBT PE is designed to be integrated into DBT to formally treat PTSD once patients meet standardized readiness criteria. The core procedures are in vivo and imaginal exposure with processing that are delivered in individual therapy sessions (1.5 hours/week).

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Prolonged Exposure therapy

Standard PE is delivered in individual therapy sessions (1.5 hours/week) and uses the core procedures of in vivo and imaginal exposure with processing.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Suicide risk management

Standard VA suicide risk management procedures, including comprehensive suicide risk assessment and safety planning.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

DBT; DBT PE; PE; SRM

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• PTSD
• Recent and repeated self-directed violence
• Current suicidal ideation
• Emotion dysregulation
• Veteran eligible for VHA mental health care at participating site
• Age 18+
• Willing to participate in all study activities

Exclusion Criteria

• Unable to maintain safety independently
• Currently engaged in and/or recent (past year) history of receiving a sufficient dose of DBT or PE
• Plan to move away or be unavailable for >4 weeks in the next 18 months
• Unable to sufficiently comprehend study procedures due to lack of English proficiency or moderate to severe cognitive impairment

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

VA Office of Research and Development

FED

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Melanie S Harned, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

VA Puget Sound Health Care System Seattle Division, Seattle, WA

Locations

Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC

Durham, North Carolina, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

South Texas Health Care System, San Antonio, TX

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

VA Puget Sound Health Care System Seattle Division, Seattle, WA

Seattle, Washington, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Melanie S Harned, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: (206) 277-3650

Email: melanie.harned@va.gov

John C Fortney, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: (206) 764-2821

Email: John.Fortney@va.gov

Facility Contacts

Lindsay Andrews-Wiebusch, PhD

Role: primary

Laura A Meis, PhD

Role: backup

Daniel Blalock, PhD

Role: primary

Charlotte Ready, PhD

Role: backup

Julia Carter, PhD

Role: primary

Melanie S Harned, PhD

Role: primary

John C Fortney, PhD

Role: backup

Other Identifiers

SDR 22-185

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id