Applications that help military veterans

PE Coach

PE Coach deals with “prolonged exposure” to symptoms stemming from the traumatic event, develop in to PTSD and addresses how they fade over time. The application assesses and tracks based on two primary factors that maintain PTSD, avoidance of situations and avoidance of unhelpful thoughts.

Avoidance helps in the near term, but can make problems worse in the long term since the mind is prevented from actually processing people, places and things that might trigger the impulse to take actions.

PE Coach uses two forms of exposure to help the mind process and relax in the face of thoughts or situations that PTSD sufferers avoid. The first is imaginal exposure which revisits the traumatic memories and involves recounting the events out loud. The second is called In Vivo exposure, which involves physically confronting activities which have been avoided in a gradual manner, using progressively more difficult challenges to overcome.

Exposure therapy is very effective and its two-pronged approach in dealing with situations and the memories of the situations provides a gradual means to reduce the symptoms or alleviate them altogether. PE Coach is meant to be used as part of a treatment plan with a clinician.