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The rationale behind Cognitive Processing Therapy is...

Dr. Abigail Angkaw (Clinical Psychologist) describes PTSD treatment.

Transcript

Cognitive Processing Therapy, or CPT, is a treatment for PTSD

that we know is effective for treating PTSD.

It's really based on one of the reasons why people feel like,

after experiencing trauma, PTSD has developed.

The rationale behind Cognitive Processing Therapy is

that your thoughts about yourself, your thoughts about others,

or your thoughts about the world may have changed

in some really important ways after experiencing trauma.

And we call those "stuck points."

An example would be, maybe, thoughts about safety.

Maybe after experiencing safety, you may feel like the world

is not as safe as it used to be.

Those thoughts then themselves may sustain PTSD symptoms.

So if you're in treatment and in Cognitive Processing Therapy,

part of that will be examining your thoughts,

so examining your thoughts about what you've experienced,

also examining thoughts that you have in day-to-day life

that may be connected to PTSD symptoms.

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