Posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can affect emotional health, sleep, daily functioning, and quality of life. Written Exposure Therapy is a brief trauma-focused psychotherapy in which participants complete structured writing exercises about a traumatic experience. However, it is not yet clear which changes in brain activity and sleep occur over the course of treatment or whether these measures can help predict who is most likely to benefit.
This study will enroll approximately 200 adults with PTSD. Participants will be randomly assigned to either Written Exposure Therapy or a neutral writing condition and will complete five weekly writing sessions. The study will collect electroencephalography, or EEG, recordings and actigraphy-based sleep and activity measures at scheduled time points before treatment, during the five-week intervention period, and after treatment. Participants will also complete clinical assessments of PTSD symptoms and related outcomes.
The primary goals are to identify EEG and sleep-related biomarkers associated with improvement in PTSD symptoms, determine how early these biomarkers change during treatment, and evaluate whether baseline measures can help predict individual treatment response.
Age between 18 and 65
History of trauma, with current elevated PTSD symptoms
Ability to understand and sign informed consent
Ability to read and write in English
Metal in the head/neck
Current unstable medical conditions
Head injury with prolonged loss of consciousness (over 30 minutes) within the past 10 years
History of major neurological illness