Sensing Data Toolkit Helps Improve Therapy for Veterans with PTSD

Clinical psychologists who treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could soon gain better insight into how their patients experience triggering environments and situations outside the clinic.

Cognitive behavioral therapies require patients to practice skills between sessions. Clinicians rely on retrospective patient reports to understand what happens during that time.

However, recall bias, selective disclosure, and difficulty remembering can render those reports subjective, incomplete, or inaccurate.

Clinicians can now see sensor data on how patients’ bodies react in these situations thanks to a new technology toolkit from Georgia Tech and Emory University.

A new app that syncs with a FitBit wearable device can track and record heart rate, step count, noise level, and other sensor data when patients practice prolonged exposure homework assigned by their therapists.