PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Sonya B. Norman, PhD

Deputy Director for Consultation

Executive Division

Email: Sonya.Norman@va.gov

Academic Appointment

• University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry

Education and Professional Certifications

• VA San Diego Healthcare System, Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Stanford University, Counseling Psychology, PhD
• Vassar College, Anthropology, BA

Expertise and Interests

• Effective treatments for PTSD and common comorbidities such as substance use disorders
• Moral injury
• Posttraumatic guilt and shame
• PTSD and substance use comorbidity correlates and treatment
• Implementation of best practices for PTSD assessment and treatment

Featured Publications

Norman, S. B., Luciano, M. T., Panza, K. E., Davis, B. C., Lyons, M., Martis, B., Matthews, S. C., Angkaw, A. C., Haller, M., Lacefield, K., Brody, A. L., Schnurr, P. P., Batki, S. L., Simpson, T. L., & Anthenelli, R. M. (2025). A randomized clinical trial of Prolonged Exposure therapy with and without topiramate for comorbid PTSD and alcohol use disorder. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 182(5), 452-462. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20240470 PTSDpubs id1646348 (PDF)

Norman, S. B., Griffin, B. J., Pietrzak, R. H., McLean, C., Hamblen, J. L., & Maguen, S. (2024). The Moral Injury and Distress Scale: Psychometric evaluation and initial validation in three high-risk populations. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 16(2), 280-291. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001533 PTSDpubs id1621948 (PDF)

Norman, S.B., Nichter, B., Maguen, S., Na, P.J., Schnurr, P.P. & Pietrzak, R.H. (2022). Moral injury among U.S. combat veterans with and without PTSD and depression. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 154, 190-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.07.033 PTSDpubs id1597864 (PDF)

Norman, S.B., Capone, C., Panza, K.E., Haller, M., Davis, B.C., Schnurr, P.P., Shea, M.T., Browne, K.C., Norman, G.J., Lang, A.J., Kline, A.C., Golshan, S., Allard, C.B. & Angkaw, A.C. (2022). A clinical trial comparing Trauma-informed Guilt Reduction Therapy (TrIGR), a brief intervention for trauma-related guilt, to supportive care therapy. Depression and Anxiety, 39(4), 262-273. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23244 PTSDpubs id1586433 (PDF)

Norman, S.B., Trim, R., Haller, M., Davis, B.C., Myers, U.S., Colvonen, P.J., Blanes, E., Lyons, R., Siegel, E.Y., Angkaw, A.C., Norman, G.J., Mayes, T. (2019). Efficacy of Integrated Exposure Therapy vs Integrated Coping Skills Therapy for comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(8), 791-799. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0638 PTSDpubs id52065 (PDF)

Find a full list of my publications on PubMed.

Key Projects

• I am part of the executive leadership team of NCPTSD and run the PTSD Consultation Program.
• A focus of my work is to understand how to help people with moral injury. My colleagues and I developed the Moral Injury and Distress Scale to study moral injury across different populations and experiences and to measure change in moral injury through treatment. We developed Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction (PDF) therapy and are evaluating it for moral injury, PTSD, suicide risk, and substance use disorder. I am also studying how to most effectively use PTSD treatments for moral injury when it occurs with PTSD.
• I also have a project to examine how best to treat PTSD in intensive substance use treatment settings.

Membership in Professional Societies

• International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, Executive Committee and Elected Board Member
• Association of VA Psychology Leaders
• American Psychological Association

Members of the press interested in scheduling an interview please see the contact for the media page.