Purpose

This program is designed for practitioners working with patients who have been exposed to life-threatening or traumatic events and who develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is one of the most prevalent of all psychological disorders and is being more readily recognized in clinical practices worldwide.

Recent advances in our understanding of PTSD indicate that there are now multiple treatments available that hold great promise. In particular, there are more than a hundred randomized clinical trials examining the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) for PTSD. Impressively, these treatments appear to be successful in treating PTSD secondary to a wide variety of traumatic life events to include military combat trauma.

The purpose of this lecture is to provide a systematic overview of the theoretical conceptualization underlying many of the proven treatments, to describe the approaches suggested for treating PTSD, and to review the existing literature on treatment efficacy. As well, few studies to date address systematically the outcomes associated with group treatments for PTSD, internet self help approaches, and studies of the interaction of pharmacotherapy and CBT.

Strategies will be suggested to improve and enhance the acceptance and adaptation of empirically supported psychosocial treatments for PTSD in clinical settings.

Participants will learn contemporary methods for assessing patients with PTSD and will also learn current models to evaluate patients with this debilitating condition in a variety of settings including clinics, primary care, residential settings, and forensic settings. Case presentation will form a vital part of the presentation and considerable time will be devoted to new methods and models for evaluating PTSD.

Specific processes and instruments to be covered will be the Clinician’s Administered PTSD Scale, the PTSD Checklist, the MMPI-II and its PTSD Scale; the PTSD Screen, and the Mississippi Scale. Information on measures of functioning for use in examining people for disability (i.e., SSI, DOD Boarding, and VA pensions) will also be included in this session.

Agenda

Social Hour

IPA will be hosting a social from 4:30 - 7pm after the conference at the Olsen Center. Appetizers will be hosted by IPA. Please email your RSVP to ipa@iowapsychology.org.

Speaker

Terence M. Keane, PhD

Dr. Keane is Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at Boston University and Assistant Dean of VA Research, Keane is also the Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at VA Boston Healthcare System and Director of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’s Behavioral Science Division.

The Past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) the Society of Clinical Psychology, the Association of VA Psychology Leaders, and the Division of Trauma Psychology of the APA, Dr. Keane has published fourteen edited volumes and over 300 articles and chapters on the assessment and treatment of PTSD. For the past 36 years the VA, the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have continuously supported his program of research on psychological trauma. His contributions to the field have been recognized by many honors including the Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) and the Robert Laufer Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement (1996) from ISTSS, a J. William Fulbright Senior Scholarship (1993-4), the Outstanding Researcher in Behavior Therapy Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (2004), the Outstanding Research Contributions Award (2000) and the Distinguished Service Award (2002) from the American Psychological Association, Outstanding Research Contributions (2013) from the Society for Clinical Psychology (APA) and the Weisband Distinguished Alumnus Award (1998) from Binghamton University (SUNY) where he received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1978. In 2015, Keane received the John Blair Barnwell Award for Outstanding Contributions in Clinical Science from the Veterans Health Administration.

Dr. Keane is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He has consulted, lectured, and conducted workshops internationally on topics related to psychological trauma. His current work and interests are in the development of a VA registry of PTSD Patients and the construction of an internet based treatment program to assist in the readjustment of returning war veterans with post-deployment behavioral health problems.