Post-traumatic stress disorder in UK military veterans Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Conditions
Interventions
Current interventions as of 20/10/2025:
FIRST® is a brief intervention delivered in 3 to 4 x 90 minute sessions by a FIRST® therapist via videocall. FIRST® rewrites the emotional elements of the memo
a mental health charity located in Northern Ireland (https://www.inspirewellbeing.org/) who delivered all therapies remotely in the feasibility trial. Inspire therapists are experienced in working rem
b) Inspire, due to their Northern Ireland location, have considerable expertise in working with military veterans and other populations with occupationally-related PTSD
and c) they have robust clinical governance procedures which are adaptable to being supplemented with FIRST® therapy-specific clinical supervision.
Participants will be randomised after eligibility a
Sponsors
King's College London
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Current key inclusion criteria as of 20/10/2025: 1. UK-based military veterans from the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force 2. Aged >18 years 3. Currently living or working in the UK 4. Ability to read and speak English 5. PTSD diagnosis determined by the DSM-5 using the Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS-5) 6. Experiencing symptoms causing clinically significant distress or impact on social, occupational or other areas of functioning 7. Self-reported history of exposure to one or more traumas 8. Willing and able to provide informed consent 9. Willingness to be randomised to a treatment group 10. Willingness for the therapy sessions to be video recorded 11. Access to the Internet Previous key inclusion criteria: 1. UK-based military veterans from the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, British Army, Royal Air Force 2. Aged >18 years 3. Currently living or working in the UK 4. Ability to read and speak English 5. PTSD diagnosis determined by the DSM-5 using the Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS-5) 6. Experiencing symptoms causing clinically significant distress or impact on social, occupational or other areas of functioning 7. Self-reported history of exposure to one or more traumas 8. Willing and able to provide informed consent 9. Willingness to be randomised to a treatment group 10. Willingness for the therapy sessions to be video recorded 11. Access to the Internet
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Current key inclusion criteria as of 30/10/2025: 1. UK-based military veterans from the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force 2. Aged >18 years 3. Currently living or working in the UK 4. Ability to read and speak English 5. Meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and/or clinically important symptoms impacting on social, occupational or other areas of functioning as determined by DSM-5 using the Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS-5) 6. Self-reported history of exposure to one or more traumas 7. Willing and able to provide informed consent 8. Willingness to be randomised to treatment group 9. Willingness for the therapy sessions to be video recorded 10. Access to the Internet _____ Previous key exclusion criteria as of 20/10/2025: 1. Currently receiving psychological treatment for PTSD 2. Currently has a comorbid DSM-5 mental health or personality disorder sufficiently severe as to intrude upon the participant’s ability to cooperate with treatment 3. Participant has attempted suicide within the past month at time of recruitment or has had multiple previous attempts which are deemed clinically likely to happen again during the course of the trial 4. Participant is currently self-harming or has experienced a serious episode of deliberate self-harm which required medical intervention within the past month 5. Current dependence on alcohol as determined by an AUDIT cut-off of =20 or self-report during clinical interview 6. Self-report of current dependence on prescription or illegal substances as determined during clinical interview 7. Self-reported medication changes in anti-psychotic and anti-depression medication in the previous four weeks 8. Participant has an existing dissociative disorder that moderately-severely or severely impairs function as determined by the Assistant Psychologist during administration of the CAPS-5 assessment 9. Any other documented reason in which the assessing assistant psychologists, in consultation with their clinical supervisor, determine that treatment for other mental health symptoms takes precedent over their PTSD at the time of assessment _____ Previous key exclusion criteria: 1. Currently receiving psychological treatment for PTSD 2. Currently has a comorbid DSM-5 mental health or personality disorder sufficiently severe as to intrude upon the participant’s ability to cooperate with treatment 3. Participants who have had a self-reported suicide attempt within the past month 4. Current dependence on alcohol as determined by an AUDIT cut off of =20 or self-report of prescription or illegal substances dependence 5. An existing dissociative disorder as determine by scoring =43 on the Dissociative Experiences Scale 6. Self-reported medication changes in anti-psychotic and anti-depression medication in the previous four weeks 7. Any other documented reason in which the assessing assistant psychologists, in consultation with their clinical supervisor, determine that treatment for other mental health symptoms takes precedent over their PTSD at the time of assessment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| PTSD symptom severity assessed by the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) collected at baseline, 6-weeks, 12-weeks and 20-weeks post-randomisation | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Current secondary outcome measures as of 20/10/2025: 1. Assess the impact of the participant's mental health on work, home, social and private leisure activities and interpersonal relationships, assessed by the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) collected at baseline and 20 weeks post randomisation 2. Depression assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) collected at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 20 weeks post-randomisation 3. Health status assessed by the EQ5D-5L at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation 4. Self-related self-esteem assessed by the Self-esteem scale at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation 5. Symptom severity assessed by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation 6. PTSD complexity assessed by the ICD-11 Trauma Questionnaire (ICD-TQ) at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation Previous secondary outcome measures: 1. Assess the impact of the participant's mental health on work, home, social and private leisure activities and interpersonal relationships, assessed by the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) collected at baseline and 20 weeks post randomisation 2. Depression assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) collected at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 20 weeks post-randomisation 3. Health status assessed by the EQ5D-5L at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation 4. Self-related self-esteem assessed by the Self-esteem scale at baseline and 20 weeks post-randomisation | — |
Countries
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Contacts
Public ContactRebecca Rogers
Outcome results
None listed