By Robyn Mincher
DCOE Strategic Communications
The Departments of Defense and Veterans
Affairs (DoD/VA) have released “PE Coach,” a smartphone mobile application for
use with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment.
PE Coach is a form of “prolonged
exposure” therapy available to all past and present service members — including
the more than 10,000 Wisconsin Soldiers and Airmen who have deployed since 9/11
— as a way to help diagnos and treat symptoms of PTSD.
“As technology grows – our ability to
find new ways to get information out to our service members and their families
needs to grow as well. This new technology is another great tool for our
service members and their families to use while transitioning back into their
normal routines following a mobilization.” said Vicki Cushman Edgren, director
of the Wisconsin National Guard Badger Yellow Ribbon program.
“In addition to our three phases of
reintegration, PE Coach can be a valuable tool for our Soldiers and Airmen to
use when returning from deployment and beyond. It especially speaks to the
younger generation who already utilize phone apps in many other areas of their
lives,” she continued.
Both the DoD and DVA use prolonged
exposure (PE) therapy as an effective treatment for PTSD.
Psychologists at the Defense
Department’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology, known as T2, and VA
National Center for PTSD, developed the mobile app to specifically help
patients with their therapy.
“‘PE Coach’ is a helpful tool that
assists our service members and veterans who are between visits and in
treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder,” said Dr. Jonathon Woodson,
assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “We have shared this app with
our military health care providers as well, and hope that many individuals who
are receiving PE therapy will find it useful.”
Prolonged exposure therapy helps a
patient process a trauma memory to reduce the distress and avoidance caused by
the trauma. The patient revisits the memory with a therapist and as the memory
is emotionally processed, anxiety decreases. The therapy also helps the patient
confront avoided situations that trigger memories of the trauma.
“We worked with a broad and diverse group
of psychologists in the DoD and VA who are treating PTSD patients with
prolonged exposure therapy,” said Dr. Greg Reger, clinical psychologist with
the T2 Innovative Technology Applications division. “We wanted to help our
patients in the therapy and make it easier for providers to deliver this
treatment. PE Coach does both.”
Many psychologists who provide prolonged
exposure therapy acknowledge it could be more effective if patients could
better adhere to their assignments between sessions.
The patient installs “PE Coach” on their
smartphone and can record the therapy session for playback between sessions.
The app also provides an explanation of exposure therapy, assignments,
explanations of PTSD and its symptoms, and a convenient way to write notes about
typically avoided locations, situations and events for later discussions with
their therapist.
Reger said that writing in a notebook in
public places may make people feel uncomfortable. However, tapping a note on a
smartphone is much easier and a more personal way to capture those
in-the-moment feelings.
“PE Coach” will help users successfully
adhere to PE treatment, which could improve the quality of treatment. Reger
said it was not designed to be used as a self-help tool and should not replace
professional counseling.
The Defense Department and VA released a
similar mobile app last year; “PTSD Coach” is a reference tool for education,
tracking symptoms, self-assessments and connections to support individuals with
PTSD.
“PE Coach” is available for Apple and
Android mobile devices. Find more information about the app at
t2health.org/apps/pe-coach.
The National Center for Telehealth and
Technology, located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., serves as the primary
Department of Defense office for cutting-edge approaches in applying technology
to psychological health. More information about T2 is at t2health.org.
T2, a Defense Centers of Excellence for
Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center, designs, tests and
evaluates available and emerging technologies in support of psychological
health and traumatic brain injury recovery for service members, veterans and
their families. To learn more, read “About T2.”
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By DCoE Strategic Communications
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