What Trauma Treatments are:

Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) are two evidence-based treatments for traumatic experiences and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In PTSD, individuals develop maladaptive thought patterns as well as repeated misfirings of the fear mechanisms in the brain. As a result, traumatized individuals overestimate the likelihood that something bad will happen to them and underestimate their ability to cope with it if something bad does happen. They may also have intense physiological or emotional experiences related to trauma reminders. Both PE and CPT directly target aspects of the traumatic response.

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What CPT and PE treat:

CPT directly targets maladaptive beliefs that develop following a trauma. Treatment involves identifying and challenging these “stuck points” and finding new ways to think about the trauma and reminders of it. CPT may also involve discussing the traumatic memory and slowly approaching trauma-based triggers that the individual has been avoiding. Treatment is primarily centered around restructuring thought patterns to reduce the fear, anger, or shame responses associated with the trauma.

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Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a behavioral treatment that involves directly addressing the avoidant behavioral and cognitive patterns that emerge following a trauma. In other words, many traumatized individuals work to avoid either thinking about what happened to them or coming into contact with reminders of what happened. PE involves reducing avoidance, thereby re-teaching the brain what is and what is not a threat through gradual exposure to trauma cues and processing of trauma cues and memories.

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Both PE and CPT can be helpful for traumatic experiences. Treatment may also have a positive impact on mood disturbance, anxiety and stress, insomnia, anger, and shame that may be secondary to trauma.

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