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NEUROLOGY &
SLEEP DISORDERS

continued from page 13

tors across the nation. The grant
application was selected for fund-
ing, and the STRONG STAR
Multidisciplinary PTSD Research
Consortium was officially estab-
lished in September 2008.
The South Texas Research Or-
ganizational Network Guiding
Studies on Trauma And Re-
silience, or STRONG STAR, ini-
tially included 14 linked basic
science, epidemiology, genetic,
and clinical trial studies targeting
combat-PTSD and related condi-
tions in active duty service mem-
bers and recently discharged
veterans. Although the primary
focus was PTSD, we included a
major focus on sleep disorders
because of the common comor-
bidity of the two disorders. Over
the subsequent 10 years,
STRONG STAR has expanded to
include over 50 DoD, NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), In addition, we have documented that insomnia is the most common
and privately funded research projects with a combined nationwide residual symptom after the successful treatment of PTSD (Pruiksma
budget of over $150 million. In June 2018, STRONG STAR was et al., 2016). Among participants who no longer met criteria for PTSD
approved by the UT System as an Organized Research Unit (ORU) following treatment, 57 percent continued to report insomnia.
at UT Health San Antonio. The infrastructure funding provided for We have secured additional DoD/VA research funding through
the STRONG STAR ORU will allow us to continue to be highly the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, also headquartered at UT Health
competitive to secure research funding. San Antonio, to investigate the most effective approach to treating
In addition to our funding for PTSD research, we have received comorbid PTSD and insomnia. That study is well underway, and
DoD and private funding to support four military sleep disorder one of its considerations is whether the order of treatment – PTSD
research projects and have two additional projects that are in final first or insomnia first – affects outcomes for both disorders.
negotiation for possible funding. Our research studies have docu- With the nationwide success of STRONG STAR, I have led a
mented that insomnia is highly prevalent in military personnel (Tay- similar nationwide effort for the past three years to try to establish
lor et al., 2016) and that cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia a Military Sleep Disorders Research Consortium headquartered at
is effective in military primary care (Goodie, Isler, Hunter, & Peter- UT Health San Antonio and including the nationwide collaboration
son, 2009; Isler, Peterson, & Isler, 2005) and specialty care settings of DoD, VA, and civilian sleep experts. The establishment of the
(Taylor et al., 2017, 2018). proposed Military Sleep Disorders Research Consortium in San An-
Our primary care study found that over 80 percent of patients tonio will help expand our national reputation of excellence in clin-
no longer met criteria for insomnia after being treated with three, ical, research, and teaching related to military sleep disorders.
30-minute CBT-I sessions (Goodie et al., 2009). We have also found
similar results for the treatment of deployment-related insomnia in Dr. Peterson teaches in the Department of Psychiatry, School
military specialty care settings using standard face-to-face or Inter- of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San
net-delivered CBT-I (Taylor et al., 2017, 2018). Antonio.

14 San Antonio Medicine • August 2018