Two Projects Target Relationship Aggression Among People with PTSD

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Living with posttraumatic stress disorder can strain any relationship – sometimes to the point of violence against a loved one. University of Arkansas psychologist Matthew T. Feldner is part of two national research projects aimed at preventing relationship aggression in couples coping with PTSD and treating this type of aggression when it has already developed.

“The main aims of these projects are to reduce the number of new cases of interpersonal violence and reduce the number of cases already existing,” Feldner said. “We teach couples skills for better relationship behaviors, such as how to communicate better and how to manage anger.”

These projects have the potential to be groundbreaking advances in preventing and treating violence against intimate partners among people with PTSD, according to Feldner. Feldner will receive a total of $1.6 million from two separate grants – one, funded by the Centers for Disease Control, focuses on preventing relationship aggression, and the other, funded by the Department of Defense, focuses on treating existing cases of PTSD and relationship aggression.

Feldner is working with researchers from the Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD: Casey T. Taft from the Behavioral Science Division and Candice M. Monson and Patricia A. Resick, both from the center’s Women’s Health Sciences Division.

Feldner, who directs the university’s Intervention Sciences Laboratory, brings to the project a history of research in PTSD. In recent years, he has used his familiarity with risk factors for the development of PTSD to better understand interventions designed to prevent this problem.

In 2007, he published an article with Monson and Matthew J. Friedman of the Executive Division of the National Center for PTSD in the journal Behavior Modification analyzing approaches to preventing PTSD and suggesting theoretically-based directions for future research.

The research funded by the CDC will target individuals with PTSD and their partners to prevent possible consequences of PTSD from being played out as aggression in their relationships. This prevention program will involve 10 group sessions and will be compared to 10 sessions of general supportive therapy.

If the aggression already has developed, the research funded by the Defense Department will focus on reducing aggression and treating the PTSD. This treatment program will involve 16 group sessions and will be compared to treatment that veterans are already receiving.

All people receiving these interventions will be closely monitored and referred for more intensive individual therapy should the need arise.

Rather than going back to focus on the roots of the PTSD, Feldner said the couples in these interventions “will focus on the here and now of how the PTSD is affecting their relationship.” While teaching couples about the features of PTSD and improving their relationships, the group treatment can also serve as a gateway to further treatment for PTSD and other services.

Noting that research has shown that, in general, improving relationships improves the PTSD, Feldner said, “There are a lot of potential benefits to preventing and treating relationship aggression among people with PTSD. If the partners are coping in a healthy way and supporting each other, it may be less likely that substance use problems and depression will develop, for example.”

If these interventions succeed in preventing or treating relationship aggression, Feldner said that these would be groundbreaking, landmark projects.

“Ultimately, we are hoping we can conduct these interventions in such a way that they could be useful for the VA and could be extended to community populations as well, for situations that are not specifically military,” Feldner said.

Feldner is an assistant professor of psychology in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Taft is a staff psychologist at the Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, Behavioral Science Division, Boston University School of Medicine. Monson is the deputy director of the Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, and is affiliated with the Boston University School of Medicine. Resick directs the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD and also is affiliated with the Boston University School of Medicine.

The research project focused on preventing relationship aggression is funded by a $2 million grant from the CDC. The project focused on treating existing cases of PTSD and relationship aggression is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Defense.