Lecture 7 - CPT Flashcards
CPT - general info
Founder: Dr. Patricia Resick and Dr. Candice Monson
Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT), manualized treatment for PTSD
Four Parts:
Educating the patient about the specific post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
symptoms and the way the treatment will help
Informing the patient about their thoughts and feelings.
Imparting lessons to the patient to assist in developing skills to challenge or question
their own thoughts.
Assisting the patient to recognize changes in beliefs that happened after
experiencing the traumatic event.
12 sessions, 50-60 minutes each.
CPT - big picture
Educate individual, develop distinction between thoughts and feelings; train individuals in recognising their own thoughts and challenging them. CBT does this too.
Literally have a manual.
CPT and social cognitive theory
=> CPT is based in Social Cognitive Theory of PTSD that focuses on how the traumatic
event is construed and coped with in order to gain a sense of mastery and control
over their life.
In comparison to PE, CPT focuses beyond the development of a fear network to
other affective responses-horror, anger, sadness, humiliation, or guilt.
CPT and SCT : primary and secondary emotions
Primary Emotions: Some emotions such as fear, anger, or sadness may emanate
directly from the trauma because the event is interpreted as dangerous, abusive,
and/or resulting in losses. ==> associated with the event.
Secondary Emotions: Secondary, or manufactured, emotions can also result from
faulty interpretations made by the patient. (emotions due to thoughts or interpretations of the event rather than emotions from the event itself)
Social cognitive theories
focus on the content of cognitions and the effect that distorted cognitions have on emotional responses and behavior.
Social cognitive theory: In order to reconcile information about the traumatic event with prior schemas, an individual may engage in one or more of the following:
Assimilation-altering the incoming information to match prior beliefs
Ex. “Because a bad thing happened to me, I must have been punished for something I did or
because at my core I’m a bad person.”
Accommodation-altering beliefs enough to incorporate the new information
Ex. “There are some people in the world who may do horrific things to other people and
there are also many good people in the world like my friends and family.”
Over-accommodation-altering one’s beliefs about oneself and the world to the
extreme in order to feel safer and more in control
Ex. “I can’t ever trust myself or anyone else ever again”
CPT mechanism of change
In a social-cognitive model, affective expression is needed, not for habituation,
but in order for the affective elements of the stored trauma memory to be
changed.
Need to activate emotion to process it. ==> Cognitive processing. Want to see thoughts associate with these emotions so that we can challenge those thoughts.
Once faulty beliefs about the event and over-generalized beliefs about oneself
and the world are challenged, then the secondary emotions will also decrease
along with the intrusive reminders.
The Trauma Account
Written, not typed
Set expectations
Purpose is to access the natural emotions that have been encoded with the
memory to be expressed then dissipate.
The memory can be stored without such intense emotions encoded with it.
Also serves the purpose of identifying “Stuck Points.”
Overlap with prolonged exposure. Own handwriting = validating.
CPT, PTSD and Psychopathology
PTSD is viewed as a disruption or stalling out of a normal recovery process,
rather than the development of a unique psychopathology.
Thoughts or avoidance behaviors are interfering with emotional processing and
cognitive restructuring.
It is the therapist’s role to determine what is interfering with the normal process
of recovery.
