Research

Evaluate how effectively brain video games, brain stimulation, and the two combined improve cognitive function in military service members and veterans with mild traumatic brain injury.

Evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary benefit of intranasal esketamine delivered in combination with massed Prolonged Exposure as a standard of care for PTSD.

Identify prognostic biological and clinical markers of chronic consequences of repeated mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI) and military occupational specialty (MOS)-related repeated head injury (RHI) exposure.

Improve understanding of mild traumatic brain injury and BRAIN Health by evaluating the effects of repetitive mTBI on BRAIN Health using a quantitative, multidomain clinical and blood-based biomarker assessment.

Evaluate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and Brief Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (BBT-I) in an active military population suffering from insomnia after experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Determine the optimal behavioral insomnia treatment in this population; explore whether insomnia treatment improves other TBI-related symptoms; and explore if insomnia treatment improves brain functioning.

Evaluate the efficacy of Crisis Response Planning as a secondary suicide prevention intervention compared with Treatment as Usual among military service members who are at elevated risk for suicide due to their history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Determine if the addition of Crisis Response Planning to massed Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD reduces suicide attempts among military personnel with diagnosed or subthreshold PTSD and suicide ideation; identify early markers of treatment response and relapse of suicide risk; and identify treatment content and design features that influence treatment effectiveness and acceptability.

Conduct a randomized crossover clinical trial with service members and veterans with comorbid mTBI-related tinnitus and PTSD to (1) determine the directionality between the two disorders, (2) clarify the best sequence of therapeutic interventions to alleviate symptoms, and (3) identify neurobiological markers of symptom improvement, potentially to be used as neuromodulatory targets for brain stimulation treatments.

Leverage existing research combined with novel qualitative, retrospective, and prospective studies to develop the first comprehensive guidance on pharmacological and nonpharmacological, patient-centered treatment for posttraumatic headache (PTH) in military service members and veterans who have suffered mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Conduct a partially randomized preference trial to evaluate the relationships between patient characteristics, preferences, treatment engagement, and outcomes for military members who engage in a shared-decision-making pre-intervention followed by evidence-based treatment. Also evaluate the impact of shared decision making on PTSD treatment completion and symptom reduction.