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Authored by: Michelle Fernando, PhD, Natalie Hundt, PhD, and Joseph Tu, PhD
Despite being effective, PTSD treatments have a marketing problem
More providers are being trained in evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, about 42% of people with PTSD report they have not sought treatment. Potential consumers (i.e., those with PTSD) may be unaware that effective treatment exists or describe the names of PTSD EBPs negatively and inaccurately, which may discourage participation in these treatments. As a result, trauma-focused EBPs (and evidence-based practices widely, like exposure), remain underutilized in community mental health and within large healthcare systems, like the Veteran’s Health Administration. There is, thus, increasing attention to improve the way we market EBPs to clients.
Current marketing standards miss the mark
The most common form of “marketing” PTSD EBPs happens after a patient has already initiated care, often when treatment planning. Clinicians may provide psychoeducational pamphlets or handouts that are curated with close attention to research backing and clinical outcomes but do little to facilitate interest and motivation for treatment in consumers. For example, one study found that overly positive portrayals of recovery and symptom remission evoked skepticism and distrust in veterans with PTSD, who viewed PTSD as a lifelong illness. Current ways of pitching treatment options may not compellingly depict the content of treatment and how it fits the patient’s goals and style of learning, both of which tend to be important in determining consumer preference.
There are ways to make your PTSD EBP “pitch” more compelling
Clinicians have reported “pitching” PTSD EBPs through a few strategies.
- First, take your time: ditch rushed treatment pitches and opt for a shared decision-making approach (see this Toolkit).
- Second, focus beyond the facts: concrete information (number of sessions, effectiveness data, etc.) is helpful, but so is helping the patient more intuitively “see” themselves doing the treatment and deeply understand how it will personally help them.
- To do so, create an engaging discussion by using metaphors and short stories, sharing treatment successes, asking open-ended questions, speaking with joining language (“we’ll do this together”), and providing direct encouragement (“this treatment can work for you”). These strategies will help foster a collaborative environment and build buy-in for treatment.
- Fourth, consider changing clinical terms to accessible, hopeful names. Overly clinical terms likely won’t click with patients but changing prolonged exposure to “overcoming fears” or “approaching your fears,” or cognitive processing therapy to “helpful thinking” may be more memorable and digestible.
Is Direct to Consumer Marketing in our Future?
These strategies speak to the value of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing, a “pull” strategy most familiar to us in the form of commercials for medications. In fact, DTC advertising has historically increased prescribing and patient requests for psychotropic medications (e.g., “ask your doctor about...”). However, research on the impact of direct-to-consumer marketing for PTSD EBPs is in its infancy. It is essential for future research to focus on understanding the types of messages that resonate with Veterans.
Marketing literature uses many different strategies, such as using testimonials, using a compare/contrast message format to compare different options, or evoking strong emotions with compelling stories. However, most of the existing research on DTC marketing for therapy uses only one strategy, rather than comparing different strategies. Additionally, the modern marketing literature discusses how the most effective strategies may differ from person to person, reminding us that a personalized approach to pitching EBPs may remain most effective. Research has yet to identify any salient personal characteristics that may impact receptivity to different DTC marketing approaches to PTSD EBPs.
Until the research becomes clearer, in the meantime, we as clinicians can use some of these strategies to implement DTC marketing of our own and do our part to “sell” PTSD treatments more effectively to our clients.
Disclosure: This material is based upon work supported (or supported in part) by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.
References
Lang, A. J., Hamblen, J. L., Holtzheimer, P., Kelly, U., Norman, S. B., Riggs, D., Schnurr, P. P. & Weichers, I. (2024). Journal of Traumatic Stress, 37(1), 19-34. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23013
Nobles, C. J., Valentine, S. E., Gerber, M. W., Shtasel, D. L., & Marques, L. (2016). Predictors of treatment utilization and unmet treatment need among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder from a national sample. General Hospital Psychiatry, 43, 38-45. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2016.09.001
Larsen, S. E., Ranney, R. M., Matteo, R., Grubbs, K. M., & Hamblen, J. L. (2024). What’s in a treatment name? How people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms interpret and react to PTSD treatment names. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 38(1), 112-123. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23108
Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Zimmermann, M., Arch, J. J., Guzman, E. D., & Lagomasino, I. (2015). Has evidence-based psychosocial treatment for anxiety disorders permeated usual care in community mental health settings? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 72, 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2015.06.010
Shiner, B., Levis, M., Dufort, V. M., Patterson, O. V., Watts, B. V., DuVall, S. L., Russ, C. J., & Maguen, S. (2021). Improvements to PTSD quality metrics with natural language processing. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28(4), 520-530. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.13587
Karlin, B. E., & Brenner, L. A. (2020). Improving engagement in evidence-based psychological treatments among Veterans: Direct-to-consumer outreach and pretreatment shared decision-making. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 27(4), Article e12344. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12344
Kehle-Forbes, S., Gerould, H., Polusny, M. A., Sayer, N. A., & Partin, M. R. (2022). “It leaves me very skeptical” messaging in marketing prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy to veterans with PTSD. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 14(5), 849-852. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000550
Larsen, S. E., Ranney, R. M., Matteo, R. A., Grubbs, K. M., & Hamblen, J. L. (2026). Why might people consider certain posttraumatic stress disorder treatment options and not others? Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0002118
Hooyer, K., Hamblen, J., Kehle-Forbes, S. M., & Larsen, S. E. (2024). “Pitching” posttraumatic stress disorder treatment: A qualitative study of how providers discuss evidence-based psychotherapies with patients. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 37(6), 901-912. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23058
Chandra, S., Verma, S., Lim, W. M., Kumar, S., & Donthu, N. (2022). Personalization in personalized marketing: Trends and ways forward. Psychology & Marketing, 39(8), 1529-1562. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21670
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