PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Mission and Overview

This section provides a description of how the National Center for PTSD was established and its structure. Information is given about the Center's major accomplishments including improving patient care, as well as our goals and objectives and plans for the future.

Mission

The mission of the National Center for PTSD is to advance the clinical care and social welfare of America's Veterans and others who have experienced trauma, or who suffer from PTSD, through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders.

Vision

The National Center has emerged as the world's leading research and educational center of excellence on PTSD. Its vision is to be the foremost leader in information on PTSD and trauma; information generated internally through its extensive research program, and information synthesized from published scientific research and collective clinical experience that is efficiently disseminated to the field.

The Center is organized to facilitate rapid translation of science into practice, ensuring that the latest research findings inform clinical care; and translation of practice into science, and ensuring that questions raised by clinical challenges are addressed using rigorous experimental protocols.

By drawing on the specific expertise vested at each separate division (behavioral, neuroscientific, etc.), the National Center provides a unique infrastructure within which to implement multidisciplinary initiatives regarding the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD.