Brett T. Litz, PhD
Professor, Psychiatry
Biography
Dr. Litz is a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological and Brain Sciences and is also the Director of the Mental Health Core of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiological Research and Information Center at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Litz is internationally recognized as an expert on PTSD, military trauma, and the early intervention and treatment of trauma, traumatic loss, and moral injury.
Dr. Litz recent work entails the development and validation of a new measure of moral injury as a multidimensional outcome (the Moral Injury Outcome Scale; a public domain scale available by emailing Dr. Litz) and conducing a VA funded multisite clinical trial testing an expanded version of Adaptive Disclosure on Veterans with PTSD. Adaptive Disclosure is a flexible multidimensional psychotherapy that employs different strategies to target threat-based, loss-related, and moral injury-related trauma (http://www.guilford.com/books/Adaptive-Disclosure/Litz-Lebowitz-Gray-Nash/9781462523290) . Dr. Litz has over 370 peer reviewed publications is a fellow of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the American Psychopathological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.
Other Positions
- VA Boston Healthcare System
Education
- State University of New York at Binghamton, PhD
- State University of New York at Binghamton, MA
- Stony Brook University, BA
Publications
- Published on 1/29/2025
Litz BT, Walker HE. Moral Injury: An Overview of Conceptual, Definitional, Assessment, and Treatment Issues. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2025 Jan 29. PMID: 39879547.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/5/2025
Litz BT. Moral injury: State of the Science. J Trauma Stress. 2025 Apr; 38(2):187-199. PMID: 39757695.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/23/2024
Benfer N, Darnell BC, Rusowicz-Orazem L, Litz BT. Reciprocal changes in functioning and PTSD symptoms over the course of psychotherapy. J Anxiety Disord. 2024 Oct; 107:102918. PMID: 39213829.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/19/2024
Gomes KD, Moore BA, Straud CL, Baker MT, Isler WC, McNally RJ, Litz BT, Peterson AL. Identifying Predictors of Positive and Negative Affect at Mid-Deployment Among Military Medical Personnel. Mil Med. 2024 Aug 19; 189(Supplement_3):142-148. PMID: 39160826.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/5/2024
Thompson-Hollands J, Lee DJ, Allen ES, Pukay-Martin ND, Campbell SB, Chard KM, Renshaw KD, Sprunger JG, Birkley E, Dondanville KA, Litz BT, Riggs DS, Schobitz RP, Yarvis JS, Young-McCaughan S, Keane TM, Peterson AL, Monson CM, Fredman SJ. The significant others' responses to trauma scale (SORTS): applying factor analysis and item response theory to a measure of PTSD symptom accommodation. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024; 15(1):2353530. PMID: 38836407.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/4/2024
Litz BT. A functional approach to defining and repairing moral injury: Evidence, change agents, clinical strategies, and lessons learned. J Trauma Stress. 2024 Oct; 37(5):775-783. PMID: 38837451.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/6/2024
Martin J, Rueda A, Lee GH, Tassone VK, Park H, Ivanov M, Darnell BC, Beavers L, Campbell DM, Nguyen B, Torres A, Jung H, Lou W, Nazarov A, Ashbaugh A, Kapralos B, Litz B, Jetly R, Dubrowski A, Strudwick G, Krishnan S, Bhat V. Digital Interventions to Understand and Mitigate Stress Response: Protocol for Process and Content Evaluation of a Cohort Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 May 06; 13:e54180. PMID: 38709554.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/8/2024
Monson CM, Pukay-Martin ND, Wagner AC, Crenshaw AO, Blount TH, Schobitz RP, Dondanville KA, Young-McCaughan S, Mintz J, Riggs DS, Brundige A, Hembree EA, Litz BT, Roache JD, Yarvis JS, Peterson AL. Cognitive-behavioural conjoint therapy versus prolonged exposure for PTSD in military service members and veterans: results and lessons from a randomized controlled trial. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024; 15(1):2330305. PMID: 38590124.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/28/2024
Feder A, Kowalchyk ML, Brinkman HR, Cahn L, Aaronson CJ, Böttche M, Presseau C, Fred-Torres S, Markowitz JC, Litz BT, Yehuda R, Knaevelsrud C, Pietrzak RH. Randomized controlled trial of two internet-based written therapies for world trade center workers and survivors with persistent PTSD symptoms. Psychiatry Res. 2024 Jun; 336:115885. PMID: 38603979.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/1/2024
Litz BT, Yeterian J, Berke D, Lang AJ, Gray MJ, Nienow T, Frankfurt S, Harris JI, Maguen S, Rusowicz-Orazem L. A controlled trial of adaptive disclosure-enhanced to improve functioning and treat posttraumatic stress disorder. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2024 Mar; 92(3):150-164. PMID: 38358703.
Read at: PubMed
View 339 more publications: View full profile at BUMC