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- Patricia Helmick suffers from PTSD.
Although she is under a therapist's care, there are
times when her symptoms are triggered
when she's on her own.
When that happens, she turns to her smart phone
and clicks on an app.
- I'll be, like, sad or hopeless or worried and anxious,
pick one of those categories,
and then I just click on it, and it gives me a tool to use
to help get me out of that mood and get me raring to go.
- So this is the...
- Patricia is using the PTSD Coach app
jointly developed by the VA and the DoD.
- When we spoke to veterans to ask them what they would like
their phone to do for them if their phone could help them
with PTSD, they said, "I want something that will help me
in the moment, when I'm in distress or have been
triggered or I'm really struggling."
- The PTSD Coach was developed with 4 main components:
education about PTSD; a self-assessment tool
to track symptoms;
coping tools to help veterans get through
difficult moments;
and a crisis button that immediately calls 911
or the Veterans Crisis Line.
- Thank you for calling the Veterans Crisis Line.
This is Caley. How can I help you?
- All of the information provided is entirely
consistent with what's provided on our
National Center for PTSD web page
and on our My HealtheVet site.
- The coping tools that help veterans get through difficult
moments is the heart of the PTSD Coach.
- It's organized to allow the individual to identify what
sort of symptoms they're dealing with in that moment,
so maybe they've just been triggered
by a reminder of the trauma,
or they're having trouble sleeping,
or they're feeling anger,
and it allows them to identify those symptoms,
and then we provide tailored coping skills
that can help them get through that moment.
For example, if you're feeling highly anxious or triggered,
the app provides very clear relaxation tools.
One is a progressive muscle relaxation exercise,
and another one is a guided imagery exercise to help
people sort of go to a peaceful place and just
for a few minutes take a break
from their current experience.
- Other problems also commonly occur alongside PTSD.
- Jonathan Pilgrim uses the coping tools when stressful
situations unexpectedly come up.
- One time I had, an individual come up to me out
on the street in Baltimore and asked me for money.
I said no, and he became very upset.
I was agitated, and I just used one of the skills for feeling
agitated, and it was very helpful in bringing me back
into being mindful of this is the city,
things like this are going to happen.
Jordan Ketner customized the app by putting in tools
that he finds soothing.
- You know, I have pictures of my boys on there,
my wife on there, and it throws a picture of that,
and because it does that for me,
it just brings a smile, and it's like,
it's not going to cure anything, you know, and I don't
think anyone is going to be looking at it, but it's
certainly a nice coping, another tool you can use.
- Jordan also uses the app's self-assessment tool that
helps track symptoms over time.
- When you're tracking yourself, then when you have everything
laid down, you can go and you can talk to one of your
practitioners and be like, "Here, um, I know this is
"a little silly but I have a PTSD app, PTSD Coach,
"and here's how I've been feeling the last few weeks or
here's how I've been feeling the last few months."
- Then if you are, you can click on that.
- Dr. Santonello believes the PTSD Coach
can help in recovery.
- I'm very excited about it.
There's a lot of potential here for it to be almost
in some ways a missing link between therapy and recovery
in the real world so to speak.
- For Patricia, Jordan, and Jonathan and thousands
of other veterans, that link may be a lifeline.