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Creating useful treatment plans can help improve services to consumers of mental health services. As more evidence-based practices are implemented, deciding what treatment, at what time, for whom becomes an important factor in facilitating positive outcomes. Readiness for trauma-focused treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) such as Cognitive Processing Therapy or Prolonged Exposure Therapy may influence whether an individual can successfully complete either protocol. In addition, components of adjunctive therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Dialectical Behavior Therapy may be useful in moving a particular patient toward readiness and successful completion of treatment. Psychological assessment adds valuable data to inform these types of treatment decisions. This paper describes the implementation of a psychological assessment clinic in a residential PTSD treatment setting. Barriers to implementation, use of the data, and Veterans’ reactions to the feedback provided to them are included.

Prior evidence has suggested that cannabis use is associated with greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and worse outcomes following trauma-focused treatment. However, lack of high-quality randomized studies necessitates the use of clinical data to clarify the relationship between cannabis use and PTSD treatment to help inform clinical practice. A total of 114 veterans completed cognitive processing therapy in a residential PTSD treatment program. Differences in treatment response between cannabis users and nonusers were evaluated for measures of PTSD, depression, and posttraumatic growth using analysis of covariance to control for pretreatment scores and other drug use. At baseline, cannabis users reported higher levels of PTSD symptom severity relative to nonusers but reported similar levels of depression and posttraumatic growth. Significant differences between groups in the amount of change were not observed on any of the measures from before to after treatment; however, the total sample reported significant improvements in all measures of interest. These results suggest that PTSD treatment outcomes for cannabis users may be similar to nonusers when use is stopped during treatment. Additional data are needed regarding whether outcomes remain similar at follow-up, whether cannabis users maintain abstinence after treatment, and the impact of resumed cannabis use on PTSD symptoms. Impact StatementThis study suggests that veterans with a recent history of cannabis use who maintain abstinence over a course evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder in residential treatment achieve comparable treatment outcomes with veterans without a recent history of cannabis use. These results add to evidence that abstinence may be an important treatment objective when treating individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder who also use cannabis.

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