Prolonged Exposure Therapy in the Time of COVID-19: Modifying PTSD Treatment for a Military Sexual Trauma Survivor Who Contracted COVID-19 Mid-Treatment

Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy is a gold-standard treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that can be effectively delivered via telehealth modalities The following case report describes a course of PE delivered to a veteran seeking PTSD treatment for military sexual trauma (MST), who contracted COVID-19 mid-treatment Considerations for selecting PE as a treatment modality;modifications made due to the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to telehealth more broadly, and following the veteran contracting COVID-19 more specifically;strategies to increase treatment engagement;and assessment of progress over time, are discussed In particular, treatment considerations during a global pandemic are explored at the patient-, provider-, and systems level, to inform treatment delivery for other providers during this ongoing pandemic Although there were numerous technological, environmental, and pandemic-related difficulties, the veteran described here persisted through a course of PE and experienced clinically significant reductions in symptoms of PTSD and a great degree of functional recovery