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Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression (MERA)
Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
PTSD is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions affecting Veterans who have served since 9/11. Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report difficulty controlling impulsive aggression (IA). An inability to manage one's emotions (emotion dysregulation) is an underlying mechanism of IA. Reducing IA and increasing use of PTSD evidence-based psychotherapies are two critical missions for the Veterans Health Administration. The proposed research supports these missions by comparing a 3- session emotion regulation treatment (Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression) to a control group in order to determine if MERA can reduce IA and prepare Veterans for PTSD treatment. By enhancing Veterans' abilities to cope with trauma-related emotions and feel equipped to initiate PTSD treatments, this research aims to help Veterans decrease IA and ultimately recover from PTSD.
Official title: Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression - MERA: A Brief Aggression Treatment for Veterans With PTSD Symptoms
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 64 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
204
Start Date
2022-01-03
Completion Date
2026-06-30
Last Updated
2025-12-03
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression
MERA begins with education about the adaptive nature of emotions, how childhood and military experiences can influence emotion regulation, and how combat requires different emotion regulation strategies than most civilian environments. MERA use modeling and practice with feedback to teach cognitive-behavioral and acceptance-based emotion regulation skills.
Present Centered Psychotherapy
PCT will serve as the comparison group. PCT assists Veterans in understanding and coping with current difficulties, such as aggression, but does not provide systematic training in emotion regulation skills.
Locations (2)
James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL
Tampa, Florida, United States
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX
Houston, Texas, United States