Coaching Clients Back into a Meaning Life: Using Behavioral Activation to Treat PTSD

Time: 9:00pm-4:00pm

Location: Virtual

Instructor: Matthew Jakupcak, Ph.D.

CE credits: 6 CE's (pending)

Course Description:

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the most widely recognized condition among DSM-5 trauma-related disorders. Prolonged exposure (PE), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) have robust support as effective, trauma-focused psychotherapies. However, there is a greater risk of treatment drop-out among trauma focused therapies relative to present-centered therapies, with growing evidence suggesting that long-term outcomes are comparable across trauma-focused and present centered therapies. One of the emerging present-centered therapy alternatives for PTSD is Behavioral Activation (BA). BA, an evidence-based therapy for major depression, has been further developed and applied for the treatment of PTSD by the presenter and other independent researchers. The brevity, flexibility, and ease of learning BA makes it ideal for application in non-mental health settings, such as primary care and rehabilitation clinics. This workshop will review BA principles and structure, its application for the treatment of PTSD, and give attendees an opportunity to discuss clinical examples and role play BA intervention strategies.

Dr. Jakupcak will describe Behavioral Activation, a contextual behavioral psychotherapy approach shown to be effective for treating PTSD. He will describe the growing empirical support for BA for PTSD, with detailed findings from two VA sponsored clinical trials he helped to lead, including a soon to be published study of BA+cognitive skills augmentation for PTSD and mTBI veterans. Dr. Jakupcak will also provide case examples to illustrate core components of BA, as well as challenges of applying this approach to address PTSD in veterans. Clinical case examples will be used to illustrate assessment and clinical intervention strategies and audience participation in role-playing and open discussions will be encouraged throughout the presentation. 

 Objectives:

At the end of this training participants will:

1. Be able to describe the theory and core components of Behavioral Activation (BA) used to treat both Depression and PTSD.
2. Become familiar with the growing empirical support for BA as a treatment for PTSD.
3. Be able to describe research finding specific to a test of BA as a treatment for PTSD among younger cohorts of veterans.
4. Be able to describe the “real world” clinical challenges and benefits of applying BA to treat PTSD. 

References:

Etherton JL, Farley R. Behavioral activation for PTSD: A meta-analysis. Psychol Trauma. 2022 Jul;14(5):894-901. doi: 10.1037/tra0000566. Epub 2020 Mar 12. PMID: 32162956.

Solmi M, Basadonne I, Bodini L, Rosenbaum S, Schuch FB, Smith L, Stubbs B, Firth J, Vancampfort D, Ashdown-Franks G, Carvalho AF, Radua J, Fusar-Poli L, Correll CU, Fusar-Poli P. Exercise as a transdiagnostic intervention for improving mental health: An umbrella review. J Psychiatr Res. 2025 Apr;184:91-101. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.02.024. Epub 2025 Feb 18. PMID: 40043589.

Walter KH, Hunt WM, Otis NP, Kline AC, Miggantz EL, Thomsen CJ, Glassman LH. Comparison of behavioral activation-enhanced cognitive processing therapy and cognitive processing therapy among U.S. service members: A randomized clinical trial. Psychiatry Res. 2023 Aug;326:115330. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115330. Epub 2023 Jul 4. PMID: 37418778.