Good ole’ straightforward cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)…. Research and major treating organizations (e.g., APA, Veterans Affairs) have established Prolonged exposure (PE) and Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) as the frontline treatments for trauma and PTSD. Even EMDR has risen to some prominence as a trauma treatment. But it’s easy for many of us to forget that CBT for trauma is a long-established effective treatment. Luckily, there is good CBT training for trauma to add to any therapist resources toolbox.
CBT emphasizes building awareness, learning how to reinterpret the meaning of events, re-evaluate what an event(s) has led us to believe about ourselves, and how these contribute to our emotions and behavior. No wonder why research finds CBT works well for those who experience trauma! CBT has also formed many of the building blocks for CPT and informed aspects of prolonged exposure.
CBT has demonstrated added long term benefit as well. Similar to CPT and prolonged exposure, CBT also gives skills that clients can use for the rest of their lives. This includes how they might cope if they encounter new major traumatic events. But it also provides great benefit for building ways of coping with everyday stressors that come along for any of us.
Psychwire has a great continuing education training for clinicians interested in learning CBT for trauma. They’ve brought together many award-winning and influential names in CBT and related approaches to lead these courses.
Pros: CBT is consistently found to be a highly effective and reliable treatment for so many difficulties, including trauma. Psychwire’s CBT for trauma course includes flexibility in approaches by also training in ways to integrate related effective client skills. This course and the treatment itself also heavily emphasize a compassionate approach to treatment. (This occurs despite myths that CBT is too manualized or dehumanizes client reactions).
Limits: The course itself has specific start times, so it is not fully on-demand. It’s also pretty long (although some clinicians view that as a good thing when you’ve gotta log those continuing education credits).
CBT has been around for a while at this point. But that’s probably because it still demonstrates effectiveness for trauma and other difficulties. Psychwire’s training provides a great way to harness these approaches to help those who suffer from traumatic events. And besides, who doesn’t love more therapy approaches with multiple applications?
