Skip to main content
ABCT 2025 59th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
ViewAttendees 5

Individual Oral Paper

Suicide and Self-Injury

Investigating Intimate Relationships

6 - (IOP 25) Engagement & Outcomes of Veterans Endorsing Suicidal Ideation in a Couple-based PTSD Treatment

Friday, November 21, 2025
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM CST
Location: Celestin B, Level 3
Keywords: PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), Couples / Close Relationships, Suicide
Recommended Readings: Macdonald A, Pukay-Martin ND, Wagner AC, Fredman SJ, Monson CM. Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for PTSD improves various PTSD symptoms and trauma-related cognitions: Results from a randomized controlled trial. J Fam Psychol. 2016 Feb;30(1):157-62. doi: 10.1037/fam0000177. Epub 2015 Dec 14. PMID: 26651352; PMCID: PMC4749018.,   ,   ,   ,  
Approximately 50% of veterans with PTSD experience suicidal ideation (SI) and the majority report relationship problems with their intimate partner. Previously, there has been hesitation to include suicidal veterans in PTSD treatment for fear that trauma-focused treatment could potentially exacerbate symptoms or that they would not be fully present, engaged, and experience benefit from the treatment. This secondary analysis of data from a clinical trial of Brief Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (bCBCT) for PTSD examines engagement, retention, and outcomes for 92 veterans and their partners. Veterans were grouped based on baseline report of whether they experienced SI in the past year (N = 35) or denied SI in the past year (N=57). Couples in which the veteran had PTSD and SI were retained at the same rate as veterans without SI. Significant reductions in PTSD were observed both for veterans reporting SI (b = -10.013, p < 0.001) and denying SI (b = -6.985, p < 0.001). Partners also reported reductions in veteran’s PTSD symptoms for veterans with SI (b = -5.011, p = 0.003) and without SI (b = -4.144, p = 0.005). Notably, there were not significant differences between veterans with and without SI on PTSD symptom reduction. Finally, there were no adverse events related to suicidality in this study. These findings suggests that couples in which the veteran is reporting SI are able to engage in and benefit from couple-based PTSD treatment.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe that veterans with suicidal ideation are able to engage in and benefit from a couple-based PTSD intervention.