Johanna Thompson-Hollands, PhD
Associate Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Psychiatry

PhD, Boston University
MA, Boston University
BA, Tufts University

Pronouns: she/her/hers



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.

VA Boston Healthcare System




Assessment Core for a Phase 2, Multi-center, Multi-arm, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind, Adaptive Platform Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Potential Therape
03/27/2023 - 11/30/2025 (Subcontract PI)
PPD Development LLC DOD ArmyMedResMatCmd


Personnel Agreement for Research Services of Eileen Polizzi (Barden)
01/01/2024 - 07/31/2025 (PI)
VA Boston Healthcare System


An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment: Effectiveness in a routine-care clinic
05/01/2017 - 07/19/2017 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
1K23MH112839-01

Addressing Interpersonal Contexts in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
07/01/2011 - 06/30/2014 (Co-Investigator)
PI: David Barlow, PhD
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
5F31MH092996-03



Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2025 Family Involvement in Treatment for PTSD (FIT-PTSD): A Brief, Feasible Method for Enhancing Outcomes, Retention, and Engagement 5I01CX002339-03
2023 Family Involvement in Treatment for PTSD (FIT-PTSD): A Brief, Feasible Method for Enhancing Outcomes, Retention, and Engagement 5I01CX002339-02
2022 Family Involvement in Treatment for PTSD (FIT-PTSD): A Brief, Feasible Method for Enhancing Outcomes, Retention, and Engagement 1I01CX002339-01A1
2021 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment 5IK2CX001589-04 4
2021 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment 5IK2CX001589-05 4
2020 Reaping the Wisdom of Positive Deviants to Increase the Reach of Family Involvement in PTSD Treatment 1I21HX003237-01
2019 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment 5IK2CX001589-03 4
2018 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment 5IK2CX001589-02 4
2017 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment 1IK2CX001589-01 4
2017 An adjunctive family intervention for individual PTSD treatment: Effectiveness in a routine-care clinic 1K23MH112836-01
Showing 10 of 13 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. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39887761
     
  2. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39922105
     
  3. Talbot M, Thompson-Hollands J. Accommodation of posttraumatic stress symptoms: A scoping review of the literature. J Trauma Stress. 2024 Nov 19. PMID: 39558796
     
  4. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38836407; PMCID: PMC11155430; DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2024.2353530;
     
  5. 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
     
  6. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37471022; PMCID: PMC10527917; DOI: 10.1037/ccp0000834;
     
  7. 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
     
  8. 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; PMCID: PMC10423295; DOI: 10.1037/ser0000742;
     
  9. 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; PMCID: PMC10288350; DOI: 10.1037/ser0000707;
     
  10. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35930084; PMCID: PMC9362012; DOI: 10.1007/s10488-022-01214-1;
     
Showing 10 of 45 results. Show More

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

Bar chart showing 45 publications over 15 distinct years, with a maximum of 6 publications in 2021

YearPublications
20091
20101
20122
20133
20145
20161
20173
20183
20192
20205
20216
20225
20233
20243
20252


2018 Anxiety and Depression Association of America: Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program
2012 Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies: Leonard Krasner Student Dissertation Award
2007 Tufts University: Priscilla N. Dunne Prize
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