Brief Emotion Regulation Treatment to Reduce Aggression in Veterans with PTSD Symptoms

What this Trial Is About

This research investigates a brief behavioral treatment called Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression MERA for Veterans who have served since 911 and experience posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD along with difficulty controlling impulsive aggression. The study compares MERA to Present Centered Psychotherapy PCT to see if MERA can better reduce impulsive aggression by improving emotion regulation skills. The goal is to help Veterans manage trauma-related emotions and prepare them for PTSD treatments, supporting recovery and reducing aggressions harmful effects. MERA consists of three individual 90-minute sessions delivered over three weeks. It teaches cognitive-behavioral and acceptance-based emotion regulation skills, focusing on how emotions are influenced by life experiences and military service. The comparison group receives PCT, also three 90-minute sessions over three weeks, which helps Veterans cope with current difficulties but does not include systematic emotion regulation training. Both treatments are delivered individually in a randomized, triple-masked design. Participants will be assessed from the first session through an 11-week posttreatment period. Researchers will measure changes in aggression using the Overt Aggression Scale and evaluate emotion regulation improvements with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Veterans engagement in evidence-based PTSD therapies after treatment will also be tracked. Safety monitoring includes ensuring stable psychotropic medication use and verifying aggression reports with an independent rater. Total participation spans the treatment and follow-up assessments to evaluate the treatments effects.

Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression (MERA)