Brett T. Litz, PhD
Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Psychiatry

PhD, State University of New York at Binghamton
MA, State University of New York at Binghamton
BA, Stony Brook University



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 a new social-functional theory of moral injury (Litz, B. T., & Walker, H. E. (2025). Moral Injury: An Overview of Conceptual, Definitional, Assessment, and Treatment Issues. Annual review of clinical psychology, 21(1), 251–277), 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), conducing a VA funded population study of the prevalence and functional impact of moral injury in US Veterans (Litz, B. T., Walker, H. E., Pietrzak, R. H., & Rusowicz-Orazem, L. (2025). The prevalence of moral distress and moral injury among U.S. veterans. Journal of psychiatric research, 189, 435–444), conducting a program evaluation of a rehabilitation program for incarcerated Veterans in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and research on measurement-based care and point of care studies in PTSD (Litz, B. T. (2023). It is time to flip the script and leverage the point of care to discover ways of improving treatment outcomes for posttraumatic stress disorder: commentary on “A sobering look at treatment effectiveness of military-related posttraumatic stress disorder”(Levi et al., 2021). Clinical Psychological Science, 11(2), 381-387). Dr. Litz has over 400 peer reviewed publications. He is a fellow of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the American Psychopathological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.

VA Boston Healthcare System




Program Evaluation of Veterans Healing Veterans from the Inside Out
11/01/2022 - 11/30/2025 (PI)
Veterans Transition Center


Internet-based Psychotherapies for PTSD Symptoms in WTC Responders
09/01/2016 - 08/31/2021 (Subcontract PI)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai HHS CDC NIOSH
5U01OH010729-03

Moral Injury Outcomes
09/01/2018 - 03/31/2021 (PI)
The University of Melbourne


Personnel agreement for research services of Brett Litz
09/01/2013 - 08/31/2014 (Subcontract PI)
Boston VA Research Institute, Inc. Dept of Defense


Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Victims of Mass Violence
06/01/2002 - 05/31/2005 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
5 R01 MH66589 02

The Parameters of Emotional Processing in PTSD
08/29/2001 - 10/31/2004 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
5 R01 MH61256 03



Title
South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma and Resilience (STRONG STAR)
(PI)

The Assessment Core of the South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma and Resilience - Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (STRONG-STAR)
(PI)

Adaptive Disclosure: A Combat-Specific PTSD Treatment
(PI)

Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure
(PI)

CAP-Assessment Core Boston
(PI)

Internet-based Psychotherapies for PTSD Symptoms in WTC Responders
(PI)



Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2025 The Prevalence and Functional Impact of Moral Injury in Veterans 5I01RX003915-03
2024 The Prevalence and Functional Impact of Moral Injury in Veterans 5I01RX003915-02
2023 The Prevalence and Functional Impact of Moral Injury in Veterans 1I01RX003915-01A2
2021 Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure 5I01RX002135-05 1
2020 Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure 5I01RX002135-04 1
2019 Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure 5I01RX002135-03 1
2019 CAP-Assessment Core Boston 5I01CX001134-06
2018 Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure 5I01RX002135-02 1
2018 CAP-Assessment Core Boston 5I01CX001134-05
2017 Psychosocial Rehabilitation after Moral Injury and Loss with Adaptive Disclosure 1I01RX002135-01A2 1
Showing 10 of 27 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

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  1. Straud CL, Buccellato KH, Foa EB, Brown LA, McLean CP, Blount TH, Schobitz RP, DeBeer BB, Mignogna J, Fina BA, Hall-Clark BN, Schrader CC, Yarvis JS, Jacoby VM, Evans WR, Litz BT, Meyer EC, Niles BL, Young-McCaughan S, Keane TM, Peterson AL. Differential Effects of Hazardous Drinking on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Outcomes Across Two Prolonged Exposure Treatment Formats. Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jul 15; 15(7).View Related Profiles. PMID: 40723738; PMCID: PMC12292174; DOI: 10.3390/bs15070954;
     
  2. Taverna E, Litz BT, Fredman SJ, Renshaw KD, Allen ES. Service members' exposure to potentially morally injurious events: Intimate partner knowledge and response. Mil Psychol. 2025 Jul 11; 1-11.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40644641
     
  3. Litz BT, Walker HE, Pietrzak RH, Rusowicz-Orazem L. The prevalence of moral distress and moral injury among U.S. veterans. J Psychiatr Res. 2025 Sep; 189:435-444. PMID: 40602027
     
  4. Straud CL, Buccellato KH, Vacek S, Hale WJ, Baker MT, Isler WC, Litz BT, McNally RJ, Peterson AL. The General Military Support Scale: An examination of factor structure and psychological correlates. Mil Psychol. 2025 Apr 24; 1-11. PMID: 40272399
     
  5. Fredman SJ, Gamaldo AA, Jenkins AIC, Le Y, Mogle JA, Monson CM, Gamaldo CE, Thorpe RJ, Hall-Clark BN, Blount TH, Fina BA, Buxton OM, Engeland CG, Rhoades GK, Stanley SM, Macdonald A, Dondanville KA, Taylor DJ, Pruiksma KE, Litz BT, Young-McCaughan S, Yarvis JS, Keane TM, Peterson AL. An Initial Examination of Couple Therapy for PTSD Outcomes Among Black/African American Adults: Findings from an Uncontrolled Trial with Military Dyads. Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Apr 16; 15(4).View Related Profiles. PMID: 40282158; PMCID: PMC12023970; DOI: 10.3390/bs15040537;
     
  6. Darnell BC, Vannini MBN, Morgan-López A, Brown SE, Grunthal B, Hale WJ, Young-McCaughan S, Fox PT, McGeary DD, Resick PA, Sloan DM, Taylor DJ, Schobitz RP, Schrader CC, Yarvis JS, Keane TM, Peterson AL, Litz BT. Psychometric Evaluation of the Weekly Version of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5. Assessment. 2025 Mar 12; 10731911251321929.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40077953
     
  7. Hass NC, Wachen JS, Straud CL, Checko E, McGeary DD, McGeary CA, Mintz J, Litz BT, Young-McCaughan S, Yarvis JS, Peterson AL, Resick PA. Changes in pain and related health outcomes after cognitive processing therapy in an active duty military sample. J Trauma Stress. 2025 Jun; 38(3):447-457. PMID: 40045687
     
  8. Litz BT, Walker HE. Moral Injury: An Overview of Conceptual, Definitional, Assessment, and Treatment Issues. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2025 May; 21(1):251-277. PMID: 39879547
     
  9. Litz BT. Moral injury: State of the Science. J Trauma Stress. 2025 Apr; 38(2):187-199. PMID: 39757695
     
  10. 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
     
Showing 10 of 355 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 351 publications over 37 distinct years, with a maximum of 24 publications in 2019

YearPublications
19873
19891
19902
19911
19921
19942
19953
19966
19975
19985
19991
20005
20015
20023
20034
200411
20058
200610
20077
200815
200913
20108
201118
201218
201314
201417
201519
201618
201717
201813
201924
202015
202111
202216
202313
202410
20259
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Jamaica Plain MA 02130
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