Let’s explore Additional Resources

What is Depression?

Depression: What You Need to Know

This booklet, from the National Institute of Mental Health, provides science-backed information and publications about depression and different types of available treatments.

Anxiety and Depression Association of America

This website, from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, provides information about depression and anxiety, treatment options, personal stories of individuals with depression and anxiety, and tips for military personnel and Veterans.

Mobile Apps & Online Tools

Mood Coach

This free app, developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, teaches strategies for increasing positive and meaningful activities in life to improve mood.

MoodTools

This free app provides information about depression, videos to help improve mood, positive activities, a thought diary, and a suicide safety plan.

Pacifica CBT Therapy Tools

This app includes both free and paid content for teaching specific CBT skills for managing stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety, including deep breathing and identifying and changing negative thinking patterns.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression?

VA Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression brochure

This brief brochure provides information about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression treatment for Veterans.

WebMD: Guide to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression

This article, from WebMD, provides information about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression, the steps to treatment, and what it looks like.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Karlin, B. E., Brown, G. B., Trockel, M., Cunning, D., Zeiss, A. M., & Taylor, C. B. (2012). National dissemination of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression in the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system: Therapist and patient-level outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(5), 707–718.

Karlin, B. E., Trockel, M., Brown, G. K., Gordienko, M., Yesavage, J., & Taylor, C. B. (2013). Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression among older versus younger veterans: Results of a national evaluation. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70(1), 3-12.

Brown, G. K., Karlin, B. E., Trockel, M., Gordienko, M., Yesavage, J., & Taylor, C. B. (2016). Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for veterans with depression and suicidal ideation. Archives of Suicide Research, 20(4), 677-682.

Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427-440.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression?

VA Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression brochure

This brief brochure provides information about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression for Veterans.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – Research Recovery Institute

This webpage, from the Research Recovery Institute, provides information about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and what treatment involves.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Walser, R. D., Garvert, D., Karlin, B. E., Trockel, M., Ryu, D. M., & Taylor, C. B. (2015). Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in treating depression and suicidal ideation in Veterans. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 74, 25-31.

Karlin, B. E., Walser, R. D., Yesavage, J., Zhang, A., Trockel, M., & Taylor, C. B. (2013). Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for depression: Comparison among older and younger veterans. Aging & Mental Health, 17(5), 555-563.

Twohig, M. P., & Levin, M. E. (2017). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a treatment for anxiety and depression: A review. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 40(4), 751-770.

What is Insomnia?

National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute

This webpage, from the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute, provides an overview of insomnia, including causes, signs and symptoms, and information about different treatment options.

National Center on Sleep Disorders Research

This webpage, from the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, provides an interactive sleep quiz and educational information about sleep and sleep disorders.

Mobile Apps & Online Tools

CBT-i Coach

This free app, developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia treatment. It is designed to help Veterans learn more about how sleep works and how to make changes to your approach to sleep.

Improve Your Sleep: A Self-Guided Approach for Veterans with Insomnia

This free workbook, developed by sleep experts in the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides a self-guided approach to help Veterans with insomnia improve their sleep. It may be used alone or along with the CBT-i Coach mobile app listed above.

Path to Better Sleep

This free web-based training program, developed by sleep experts in the Department of Veterans Affairs, is a self-guided version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia. The program includes online training modules and videos for learning how to change behaviors and thoughts that contribute to sleep problems. The program also includes information about healthy sleep and insomnia, as well as a sleep diary for tracking your sleep and spotting your sleep patterns.

Sleepio

This program, available for purchase, is an online version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia treatment.

SHUTi

This program, available for purchase, is an online version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

What is CBT for Insomnia?

VA Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia brochure

This brief brochure provides information about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia for Veterans.

National Sleep Foundation

This webpage, from the National Sleep Foundation, provides information about the different parts of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia through the treatment experience of “Christine,” a Navy swim and safety instructor. The National Sleep Foundation website also includes videos explaining the science of sleep, insomnia, and the link between chronic pain and sleep problems.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Trockel, M., Karlin, B. E., Taylor, C. B., & Manber, R. (2014). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with veterans: evaluation of effectiveness and correlates of treatment outcomes. Behavior Research and Therapy, 53, 41-46.

Karlin, B. E., Trockel, M., Spira, A. P., Taylor, C. B., & Manber, R. (2015). National evaluation of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia among older versus younger veterans. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 30(3), 308-315.  

Trockel, M., Karlin, B. E., Taylor, C. B., Brown, G. K., & Manber, R. (2015). Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on suicidal ideation in veterans. Sleep, 38(2), 259-265.

Trauer, J. M., Qian, M. Y., Doyle, J. S., Rajaratnam, S. M., & Cunnington, D. (2015). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for chronic insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine, 163(3),191-204.

Information about Suicide, Treatment, and Support

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) is an evidence-based treatment for managing thoughts and behaviors related to suicide. Research shows that, on average, CBT-SP reduces the chances of repeated suicide attempts by approximately 50 percent. This video, created as part of the Treatment Works For Vets initiative, presents Jake’s struggle with loss and feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and lack of meaning in his life since shortly after returning from Afghanistan. Just as things are at their darkest, Jake learns about CBT-SP and decides to begin treatment. See Jake’s experience going through CBT-SP and the impact it has on his life.

 

Veterans and Military Crisis Line

The Veterans and Military Crisis Line provides Veterans and Military Service members in emotional distress or crisis and their families and friends with caring and confidential support and guidance from trained responders. Support is available though toll-free hotline, online chat, and text messaging service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You may also take a confidential self-check quiz. A responder will leave a personal response for you within 30 minutes.

VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC)

This webpage, from the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, provides a variety of suicide prevention resources and educational materials for Veterans and family members.

National Institute for Mental Health

This webpage, from the National Institute for Mental Health, provides information, publications, and resources related to suicide and suicide prevention.

What is PTSD?

PTSD Basics

This webpage, operated by the National Center for PTSD, provides information about PTSD, different types of trauma, and treatment options. Information is provided in both English and Spanish.

What is PTSD video

This short video, produced by the National Center for PTSD, provides an easy to understand overview of PTSD.

National Institute for Mental Health

This website, from the National Institute of Mental Health, provides information about PTSD, PTSD symptoms, and effective treatments.

AboutFace

This website, operated by the National Center for PTSD, provides stories of real Veterans who have PTSD and who have received treatment.

Mobile Apps & Online Tools

PTSD Coach

This free app, developed by the National Center for PTSD, provides information and teaches skills for coping with symptoms of PTSD.

PTSD Family Coach

This free app, developed by the National Center for PTSD, offers resources to support family members of those living with PTSD.

Mindfulness Coach

This free app, developed by the National Center for PTSD, teaches mindfulness skills to help reduce stress and increase ability to cope with unpleasant thoughts and emotions.

Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for PTSD

What are Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for PTSD?

PTSD Treatment: Know Your Options video

This video offers an overview of the different types of treatment that are available for PTSD.

Evidence-Based Treatment for PTSD video

This video describes what evidence-based treatments for PTSD are.

Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD video

This video introduces Cognitive Processing Therapy, an evidence-based treatment for PTSD, an evidence-based treatment for PTSD highly recommended by experts.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD video

This video introduces Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), an evidence-based treatment for PTSD, an evidence-based treatment for PTSD highly recommended by experts.

VA Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD brochure

This brief brochure provides an overview of Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD.

VA Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD brochure

This brief brochure provides an overview of Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for PTSD overview

This webpage, from the National Center for PTSD, provides an overview of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for PTSD.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Eftekhari, A., Ruzek, J. I., Crowley, J., Rosen, C., Greenbaum, M. A., & Karlin, B. E. (2013). Effectiveness of national implementation of Prolonged Exposure Therapy in VA care. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(9), 949-955.

Powers, M. B., Halpern, J. M., Ferenschak, M. P., Gillihan, S. J., & Foa., E. B. (2010). A meta-analytic review of prolonged exposure for posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(6), 635–641

Forbes, D., Lloyd, D., Nixon, R. D. V., Elliott, P. Varker, T., Perry, D., . . . Creamer, M. (2012). A multisite randomized controlled effectiveness trial of cognitive processing therapy for military-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(3), 442–452.

Monson, C. M., Schnurr, P. P., Resick, P. A., Friedman, M. J., Young-Xu, Y., & Stevens, S. P. (2006). Cognitive processing therapy for veterans with military-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(5), 898-907.

Chen, Y., Hung, K., Tsai, J., Chu, H., Chung, M., Chen, S., . . . Chou, K. R. (2014). Efficacy of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing for patients with posttraumatic-stress disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS ONE, 9(8), e103676.

What is Chronic Pain?

Understanding Pain

This webpage, from the Mayo Clinic, provides information about pain, the differences between chronic and acute pain, and factors that affect pain.

Chronic Pain: Psychological Factors

This webpage, from the Cleveland Clinic, explains how the experience of pain is related to more than physical factors, like nerve impulses, but is also affected by our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Mobile Apps & Online Tools

CatchMyPain

This free app, developed by the Swiss start-up, Sanovation AG, includes a pain diary that allows for tracking pain level and location. A unique component of this app is online support forums that allow people to connect with other individuals with chronic pain, which can provide a community of support that can be helpful for successfully coping with chronic pain. An add-on feature enables users to track their stress levels, fatigue, and other symptoms related to pain.

Virtual Hope Box

This free app, developed by the DoD National Center for Telehealth and Technology, provides tools for promoting relaxation, coping with difficult situations, engaging in positive thinking, and distracting oneself during difficult times on. This resource, which is not specific to pain, includes many tools and strategies for managing thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that may contribute to chronic pain. The app is often used as part of CBT-CP treatment and may also be used by those not currently in treatment. Download for Apple or Android.

Breathe2Relax

This free app, developed by the DoD National Center for Telehealth and Technology, includes guided breathing and muscle relaxation techniques that are effective for lowering tension and stress that often contribute to pain and for calming the body’s natural responses to pain. The app also includes a tutorial on the effects of relaxation on the stress response system. Download for Apple or Android.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain?

VA Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain brochure

This brief brochure provides an overview of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain.

Managing Chronic Pain: A Cognitive Behavioral Approach

This article, from WebMD, describes the approach to CBT for Chronic Pain and what treatment involves, and what to expect in treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain

This article, from the Southern Pain Society, provides a detailed description of the steps of CBT for Chronic Pain and the focus of treatment on changing thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that contribute to chronic pain.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Stewart, M. O., Karlin, B. E., Murphy, J. L., Raffa, S. D., Miller, S. A., McKellar, J., & Kerns, R. D. (2015). National dissemination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for chronic pain in Veterans: Therapist and patient-level outcomes. Clinical Journal of Pain, 31(8), 722-729.

Ehde, D. M., Dillworth, T. M., & Turner, J. A. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for individuals with chronic pain: efficacy, innovations, and directions for research. American Psychologist, 69(2), 153-66.

Hoffman, B. M., Papas, R. K., Chatkoff, D. K., & Kerns, R. D.  (2007). Meta-analysis of psychological interventions for chronic low back pain. Health Psychology, 26(1), 1-9.

Morley, S., Eccleston, C., & Williams, A. (1999). Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of cognitive behaviour therapy and behaviour therapy for chronic pain in adults, excluding headache. Pain, 80(1-2), 1-13.

What is Relationship Distress?

Marital Distress

This fact sheet, from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, describes common themes and problems related to marital or relationship distress.

Bridging Relationship Distress

This article, from Psychology Today, provides information about relationship distress and patterns that develop when couples are in conflict.

Marital Distress Symptoms and Causes

This article, from Wellness.com, describes signs, symptoms, and causes of marital or relationship distress.

Mobile Apps & Online Tools

Our Relationship

This web-based program, created by the developers of Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT), is a self-guided version of IBCT. The program includes feedback, interactive education, and video simulations to help couples identify relationship problems, develop a shared understanding of their problems, and take steps toward making concrete changes in their relationship. This web-based program is most appropriate for relationship problems that are not yet to the point that would require professional help. The program is free for couples who participate in a research program evaluating this approach. For those who complete the program outside of the research study, there is a small one-time fee.

ePREP

This web-based program, developed by well-known relationship researchers, is designed to help strengthen relationships. Using written information, videos, and tutorials, the program provides self-guided information for identifying relationship problems or warning signs and for improving relationship skills, such as communication, problem solving, and positive relationship activities.  The program is primarily designed for couples with lower levels of distress and for those who are interested in strengthening their relationship skills before problems occur. The program has a small one-time fee for use.

Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy

What is Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy?

Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy

This website, from the developers of Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT), describes the steps of IBCT treatment.

Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy: Where Acceptance is Key

This article, from PsychCentral, provides an overview of IBCT and the phases of treatment and a summary of research supporting this approach.

Research and Evaluation Studies

Christensen, A., and Doss, B. D. (2017). Integrative behavioral couple therapy. Current Opinions in Psychology, 13, 111-114.

Fischer, M. S., Baucom, D. H., & Cohen, M. J. (2016). Cognitive-behavioral couple therapies: Review of the evidence for the treatment of relationship distress, psychopathology, and chronic health conditions. Family Process, 15(3), 423-442.

Christensen, A., Atkins, D. C., Baucom, B., & Yi, J. (2010). Marital status and satisfaction five years following a randomized clinical trial comparing traditional versus integrative behavioral couple therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 225-235.

VA Resources

Make the Connection

This website, developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, includes videos of Veterans telling their stories about experiencing mental health problems and seeking treatment.

Online Enrollment in VA Health Care

This website provides online enrollment for Veterans interested in receiving health care in the VA system.

VA PTSD Program Locator

This online treatment locator identifies local PTSD treatment services within the VA health care system.

VA Substance Use Disorder Treatment Locator

This online treatment locator identifies local substance use treatment services within the VA health care system.

Vet Center Program

Vet Centers provide Veterans and family members with an opportunity to speak with a counselor or therapist — many of whom are Veterans themselves — for free and regardless of enrollment status in VA. Services are often available on a walk-in basis, without an established appointment.

Coaching Into Care

This free service, operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides family members and friends of Veterans the opportunity to talk with a mental health professional about how to help a Veteran access mental health care.

Caregiver Support Toolbox and Support Line

This resource provides online tool box, developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, of resources to help family members who provide care and support to Veterans. A caregiver support line is also available at 1-855-260-3274.

National Call Center for Homeless Veterans

This resource provides a free, confidential call center available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone who is concerned about a Veteran who is homeless or at risk of homelessness.

DoD/Military Resources

Military OneSource

Military OneSource provides information and resources about treatment services, benefits, education and employment issues, and deployment for active duty service members and members of the National Guard and Reserve.

Community Resources

NAMI HelpLine & Resource Center

This website, developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, provides information and support for people seeking help for mental health problems and their family members. A helpline is available for requesting specific information about symptoms of mental health conditions, treatment options, local support groups, education programs, helping family members in treatment, and programs to help find employment.

Give an Hour

This nonprofit organization matches Veterans, military personnel, and their family members with mental health professionals in the community who volunteer to provide free care.

National Resource Directory

This resource directory provides information to connect Veterans, active duty service members, and families with a wide variety of programs and services.