Clinical Care

The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress at the University of Washington is affiliated with the Department of Psychology. The program’s mission is to provide treatment services (medication and psychotherapy) to trauma survivors. As a research program for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we seek to offer the most innovative, empirically supported, and effective treatments for the disorder.

Treatment Studies

Optimizing PTSD Treatments (OPT)
Description (5R01MH066347)
We are interested in understanding what treatment works for whom, focusing on the role of client preferences, augmentation of psychotherapy (called prolonged exposure) with a pharmacotherapy (zoloft), and biopsychosocial markers of treatment response. We offer 10 sessions psychotherapy (once a week, for 90-120 minute sessions) either with or without this medication. All individuals will be followed for nine months to understand the longer-term impact of treatment.

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Helping Extinction Learning in PTSD (HELP)
Description (R34MH087375)
We are interested in whether a medication believed to ehancing learning can shorten and strengthen learning that occurs during psychotherapy for PTSD. We offer brief short-term psychotherapy (6 60 min sessions within two weeks) either with or without this medication. All individuals will be followed for six months to understand the longer-term impact of treatment. We are no longer recruiting for this study.

When you call UWCATS (206) 685-3617:

Brief Phone Interview (approximately 20 min)
One of our staff will conduct a brief interview by phone (approximately 20 min) asking you about your trauma history, related symptoms, and previous treatment. If you are not eligible for any of our services, we will provide free referrals to other sources.
In-Person PTSD Assessment (approximately 2-3 hours)
If you are potentially eligible for one of our clinical trials, we will invite you into the center for an in-depth interview (approximately 3 hours) with one of our staff going into further detail about your trauma history, related symptoms. If you are not eligible for any of our services, we will provide free referrals to other sources.