The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two psychological treatments for the reduction of suicide attempts among U.S. military personnel and veterans, and to identify the reasons why and how these treatments work.

Specifically, this study is looking at the efficacy of two interventions. The first intervention is Present Centered Therapy (PCT). This treatment has been shown to reduce depression, PTSD symptoms, and suicidal thoughts. The second intervention is Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (BCBT). This treatment has also been shown to reduce depression, PTSD symptoms, and suicidal thoughts.

Both treatments involve a total of 12-16 sessions scheduled once or twice each week. Patients who have received either treatment have reported significant reductions in suicidal thoughts and psychological symptoms. These two treatments differ from each other with respect to the specific procedures and techniques used. The purpose of this study is to determine if one treatment works better than the other, or if they are equal to each other with respect to outcomes.

This study is only open to Veterans at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System and CBOCs or active duty military personnel in the Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA areas.

Researchers recently developed two new, computer-administered, brief questionnaire assessments of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study is to determine if these new assessments are accurate by comparing them with existing assessments for PTSD. To do this, we plan to administer the new questionnaires, existing questionnaires, and interview questions to 350 veterans with and without PTSD.

Veterans will be recruited from the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System and Savannah CBOC.

Patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) are at increased risk of depression following hospital discharge. Unfortunately, most depressed CVD patients do not receive appropriate care for their depression, often because they are unable to, or are fearful of traveling to providers for the regimen of 8-12 weekly visits of therapy such as Behavioral Activation (BA). This study will compare the effectiveness of BA for depression, delivered via Telehealth, to standard post-CVD hospital discharge best practices. It is predicted that patients who receive BA will have better mental health outcomes and will be less likely to be re-hospitalized compared to patients who receive standard post-discharge care.