Thomas J. Smith LLC — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: AF19B-T001

Description

Current PTSD treatment is ineffective, expensive, complicated, and essentially nonexistent. A harmful stigma exists behind mental health diagnosis and treatment in the military. This stigma is a direct cause of the 20 veterans a day committing suicide. This epidemic shows that mental health treatment in the military is out of date and ineffective, proving the need for new, effective, and streamlined treatment. The solution is Miruvor: a three component, multi-phased approach that will completely streamline the process for service members that prevents, diagnoses, and treats PTSD. Prevention exists as a modified Defenders Edge developed by Dr. Craig Bryan out of the University of Utah. Dr. Bryan is an Air Force veteran and developed a resiliency training based program for Security Forces that reduced suicides by 40%. Diagnosing is done by a virtual AI based therapist named Ellie. Ellie was developed by Dr. Gale Lucas and her team at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies. Trial testing for Ellie showed that she correctly diagnosed distress 80% of the time. 80% is conservative in she diagnosed more people than those who needed treatment. Treatment is done with Cognitive Processing Therapy through the National Ability Center in Utah.