What is Cognitive Processeing Therapy or CPT?

There has been a lot of focus and attention on treating PTSD and trauma in the last few decades, and for good reason. PTSD can be a debilitating disorder that affects a person’s ability to function on a daily basis. People who experience PTSD may have nightmares and flashbacks, isolate themselves, or avoid situations that remind them of the traumatic experience. Some people may also experience anger or rage or turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with symptoms of PTSD.

Trauma and PTSD are complex conditions that can affect different parts of the brain and nervous system. Today, mental health professionals use several types of therapy to treat PTSD and trauma. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) are among the therapeutic approaches used to treat PTSD.

What Is Cognitive Processing Therapy?

In Cognitive Processing Therapy, a therapist helps the client examine their thoughts and beliefs about a traumatic event and its consequences. CPT is based on the idea that certain beliefs about what happened can contribute to painful emotions and patterns of avoidance.

Avoidance can make it more difficult to process a traumatic experience and move forward from it. CPT helps clients identify thoughts and beliefs that may be keeping them stuck, examine those beliefs more closely, and develop healthier ways of understanding what happened.

By changing the way they think about the traumatic experience, clients can begin processing difficult emotions, reducing avoidance, and developing a different relationship with the experience.

Cognitive Processing Therapy is one of several evidence-based approaches used to treat PTSD and help people work through traumatic experiences.