NCT05536908

Evaluating Supplementing Residential Substance Use Treatment With Written Exposure Therapy for Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD)

Completed NA Last updated 9 February 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Residential Written Exposure Therapy in PTSD in 56 participants. Completed in 15 January 2026.

Timeline

22 June 2023

Primary endpoint
5 January 2026

15 January 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	VA Office of Research and Development
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	56
Start date	22 June 2023
Primary completion	5 January 2026
Estimated completion	15 January 2026
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Residential Written Exposure Therapy
• Treatment as Usual

Conditions studied

• PTSD — all drugs for PTSD →
• Substance Use Disorders — all drugs for Substance Use Disorders →

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development — full company profile →

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with PTSD or Substance Use Disorders. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) are highly comorbid, and comorbidity increases risk for poor functional outcomes. Risks for poor quality of life and suicide increase further for those with co-occurring PTSD and SUD diagnoses as compared to either condition alone, with suicide attempt rates three times higher for Veterans with alcohol use disorder and PTSD (Norman, Haller, Hamblen, Southwick \& Pietrzak, 2018). For patients with PTSD-SUD, there is evidence of greater PTSD symptom severity and poorer SUD treatment outcomes (e.g., Back et al., 2000), as well as higher rates of homelessness and disability (Bowe \& Rosenheck, 2015). PTSD-SUD treatments have shown promising reductions in PTSD and SUD symptoms (Flanagan, Korte, Killeen \& Back,2016). Yet, there are still major challenges in widely implementing concurrent or single-target gold-standard treatments for this population, especially with rural veterans where care access may be limited (e.g., Flanagan et al., 2016). Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a front-line, brief and effective treatment for PTSD that addresses some of the challenges posed by other gold-standard treatments. This project is designed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of Written Exposure Therapy (WET) delivered to Veterans with comorbid PTSD-SUD while they are completing a 28 day-residential SUD program (DOM SUD). The preliminary effects of the treatment during the program, and at one month and 3-month follow-up periods will also be examined, with particular attention to rates of substance use, homelessness, treatment attendance, treatment completion, quality of life, suicidality, and PTSD and depression symptoms. Veterans enrolled in the residential substance use disorder clinic will be recruited for screening into the study. Those that meet criteria for PTSD will be randomized into one of two treatment arms: Treatment as Usual (TAU: DOM SUD) and Written Exposure Therapy in a residential SUD program (resWET). Those in the TAU control group will participate in the DOM SUD treatment program, while those in the resWET group will also have five individual treatment sessions of WET. Participants will complete weekly measures of symptoms, in addition to rating cravings for substance use. Treatment completion rates will also be compiled for both DOM SUD and resWET. Participants will complete pre-treatment, post-treatment, 1 month, and 3 month follow-up measures to look for important trends regarding symptom responses to treatment (e.g., PTSD, depression), as well as suicide attempts, homelessness, treatment attendance, treatment completion, substance use, and quality of life. This preliminary data will be used to inform future studies. Additionally, providers will provide feedback to provide essential information about implementation barriers that need to be addressed for the broader uptake of the treatment approach and to enhance accessibility of the treatment. All Veterans will also provide feedback about their treatment. Findings will be used to improve the treatment and assessment approach and to prepare for a larger study to evaluate resWET.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.