PTSD Treatment

by Sam Matthews

When treating PTSD, there are a few different evidence based therapies that can be used, including psychotherapy and medications. This article will focus on those that are classified as cognitive behavioral therapies.

1. Trauma-focused CBT
   1. Challenging and changing automatic unhelpful, inaccurate thoughts (cognitive distortions)
   2. Gradual and safe exposure to trauma
2. Cognitive Processing Therapy
   1. Challenging and changing upsetting thoughts that perpetuate the trauma
   2. Includes writing a detailed account of the trauma and reading it in front of the therapist and at home
   3. Therapist helps you challenge problematic beliefs around safety, trust, control, and intimacy
3. Cognitive Therapy
   1. Challenges and reframes pessimistic thoughts and negative interpretations of the event
   2. Work through the trauma and suppressed thoughts
4. Prolonged Exposure
   1. Gradual and safe exposure to the trauma by discussing the details of what happened
   2. Recording of your recount so you can listen to it later
   3. Involves facing situations, activities, or places that remind you of the trauma
   4. Done slowly and systematically
   5. Breathing techniques learned to alleviate anxiety
5. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
   1. Imagining the trauma while the therapist asks you to track their fingers as they move them back and forth in your field of vision
   2. Allows you to pull everything out of your memory in a controlled manner and then back in the way non-traumatic memories are stored
   3. Does not require you to describe the trauma in detail, spend an extended time on exposure, challenge specific beliefs, or complete assignments outside of therapy sessions
6. Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy
   1. Combines CBT with psychodynamic psychotherapy
   2. Discuss the traumatic event
   3. Teach various relaxation techniques to decrease anxiety
   4. Therapist helps to explore how the trauma has affected how you see yourself and the world
   5. Encouraged to bring someone who supports you to your sessions
7. Narrative Exposure Therapy
   1. Create a chronological narrative of your life
   2. Helps to recreate an account of the trauma in a way that recaptures your self-respect
   3. You receive a documented biography written by your therapist at the end of treatment
   4. Typically done in small groups

For more information on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, please refer to the article titled, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Sources:

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-are-treatments-for-posttraumatic-stress-disorder#1