Johanna Thompson-Hollands, PhD
Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Biography
Johanna Thompson-Hollands, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and a Staff Research Psychologist in the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System. Her work focuses on treatment development and outcome in PTSD, with a particular emphasis on the role of family and other social supports in enhancing outcomes and retention in PTSD treatment. Dr. Thompson-Hollands is the developer of the Brief Family Intervention (BFI) for PTSD, an adjunctive family-focused intervention that aims to improve veterans’ outcomes in their individual trauma-focused therapy. She is currently leading a multi-site clinical trial to test the BFI in the VA.
In addition to multiple federal awards to conduct clinical trials related to family-inclusive treatments for psychopathology, Dr. Thompson-Hollands has also received federal funding to examine systems-level facilitators and barriers to family-inclusive treatment. The goal of this line of work is to promote the implementation of family-inclusive treatments in VA, ultimately increasing veterans’ choices with regard to their care and addressing critical interpersonal variables known to impact psychopathology and treatment.
Beyond her work on family-inclusive treatments, Dr. Thompson-Hollands has a longstanding interest in enhancing PTSD treatments more broadly by improving their effectiveness and efficiency. She has been heavily involved in grant-funded projects and papers related to Written Exposure Therapy (WET), a brief 5-session trauma-focused intervention that demonstrates comparable results to longer trauma-focused treatments. Dr. Thompson-Hollands has extensive experience in training providers to deliver WET, including as a preventative intervention. She has also been lead author and co-author on several studies of WET, including long-term outcomes from the treatment and an examination of potential moderators of the treatment’s effects.
Other Positions
- VA Boston Healthcare System
Education
- Boston University, PhD
- Boston University, MA
- Tufts University, BA
Publications
- Published on 1/29/2025
Barden EP, Kumar SA, Sager JC, Thompson-Hollands J, Lee DJ, Harper K, Keane TM, Marx BP. Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among female and male veterans: The contribution of romantic relationship and friendship functioning. J Trauma Stress. 2025 Jan 29. PMID: 39887761.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/17/2025
Sager JC, DeJesus CR, Kearns JC, Thompson-Hollands J, Trendel SL, Marx BP, Sloan DM. A meta-analytic review of cognitive processing therapy with and without the written account. J Anxiety Disord. 2025 Mar; 110:102976. PMID: 39922105.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/19/2024
Talbot M, Thompson-Hollands J. Accommodation of posttraumatic stress symptoms: A scoping review of the literature. J Trauma Stress. 2024 Nov 19. PMID: 39558796.
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 3/21/2024
Fernando M, Fite RE, Thompson-Hollands J. Brief family involvement enhances veteran homework quality during trauma-focused psychotherapy. Psychol Trauma. 2024 Mar 21. PMID: 38512169.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/20/2023
Thompson-Hollands J, Lunney CA, Sloan DM, Wiltsey Stirman S, Schnurr PP. Treatment length and symptom improvement in prolonged exposure and present-centered therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: Comparing dose-response and good-enough level models in two manualized interventions. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2023 Oct; 91(10):596-605. PMID: 37471022.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/28/2023
Thompson-Hollands J. Introduction to the special section on social relationships and posttraumatic stress disorder treatment: Harnessing the power of significant relationships. J Trauma Stress. 2023 Jun; 36(3):479-483. PMID: 36853594.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/13/2023
Shepherd-Banigan M, Shapiro A, Sheahan KL, Ackland PE, Meis LA, Thompson-Hollands J, Edelman D, Calhoun PS, Weidenbacher H, Van Houtven CH. Mental health therapy for veterans with PTSD as a family affair: A qualitative inquiry into how family support and social norms influence veteran engagement in care. Psychol Serv. 2023 Nov; 20(4):839-848. PMID: 36780280.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2022
Reuman L, Thompson-Hollands J. Women veterans' attitudes toward family involvement in PTSD treatment: A mixed-methods examination. Psychol Serv. 2023 Nov; 20(4):770-779. PMID: 36048088.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/5/2022
Thompson-Hollands J, Rando AA, Stoycos SA, Meis LA, Iverson KM. Family Involvement in PTSD Treatment: Perspectives from a Nationwide Sample of Veterans Health Administration Clinicians. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2022 Nov; 49(6):1019-1030. PMID: 35930084.
Read at: PubMed
View 35 more publications: View full profile at BUMC