Monday, April 4, 2022, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT

Barbara Rothbaum, Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Clinical Research in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory School of Medicine, Director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program, and Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program

“Innovative Treatments for PTSD: From Assessment to Virtual Reality to the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program”

Since we live in a dangerous world, it’s no wonder we hear so much about people affected by trauma (and no wonder we may be among such people ourselves).  It’s not only soldiers returning from distant wars that have horror stories to tell.  So do survivors of attacks here at home or accidents like car crashes or natural disasters that raze our communities to the ground. The strength and resilience of the human spirit are awe-inspiring, enabling most to come through such experiences well enough. But others suffer the severe, disabling, and often chronic condition called “posttraumatic stress disorder” or PTSD.  Few know more about PTSD than Emory’s own Barbara Rothbaum, whose many achievements in the field have just been acknowledged with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies.  She will discuss the signs and symptoms of PTSD and review current treatments, focusing on cognitive behavioral treatments (CBTs), including the virtual reality exposure therapy she invented and has applied so successfully among the combat veterans she works with in the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program.