About PTSD Coach
PTSD Coach was made by the VA's National Center for PTSD for anyone who has been through trauma, not only veterans. It explains PTSD and its treatment, lets you check your symptoms over time with short questionnaires (including the PC-PTSD-5 screen), and offers tools for managing distress such as grounding, breathing and relaxation exercises, plus a self-guided suicide-prevention safety plan and links to crisis support. It is free with no ads or in-app purchases and needs no account; what you enter stays on your phone. Three randomized trials have tested it: in a 2017 US trial (120 adults) and a 2022 Swedish trial (179 adults) people with access to the app improved more on PTSD and depression symptoms than people on a waitlist, and a 2023 VA trial found that the app with brief clinician support helped primary care veterans more than usual care on self-reported PTSD. It is a self-help tool and does not replace trauma-focused therapy.