Cognitive Remediation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) is a standardized intervention that involves performing cognitive exercises to improve attention, processing speed, and memory through practice. Participants will have one 60-minute CRT session each week for ten weeks. The CRT to be used in the proposed study is CogPack (version 6.0 Marker Software, Mannheim Germany). CogPack demonstrates flexibility in terms of developing a targeted intervention plan based on the levels of baseline cognitive impairment. There are approximately 6 different exercises presented in each training session, with the starting level of difficulty individualized on the basis of baseline neuropsychological performance.

Participants will play the videogame Tetris once each week for 30 minutes. Tetris is a video puzzle game that involves manipulating falling shapes. The object of the game is to manipulate these shapes, by moving them sideways or rotating them, to create a horizontal line of blocks without gaps. As the game progresses, the shapes fall faster.