What is Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)?
What are the foundational principles of Cognitive Processing Therapy?
The foundational principle of CPT lies in cognitive theory. It recognizes that traumatic experiences can lead to distorted thoughts and beliefs, impacting an individual's emotional well-being and daily functioning. CPT seeks to address these cognitive distortions and replace them with healthier, more adaptive beliefs through a narrative setting that focuses on the human connection between the client and therapist while working on the 5 key areas impacted by PTSD.What are the core treatment goals of CPT?
CPT's primaty goals are to:- Facilitate cognitive restructuring: Challenging and modifying negative thought patterns and beliefs related to traumatic experiences.
- Create emotion regulation: Helping individuals process and integrate traumatic memories and emotions.
- Foster trauma resolution: Assisting clients in finding a sense of closure and acceptance regarding their past traumatic events.
How does CPT work in trauma treatment?
CPT employs a structured and time-limited treatment approach. Clients typically attend 12 sessions, each lasting around 60-90 minutes. During sessions, the therapist and client collaboratively explore the client's traumatic experiences and identify related cognitive distortions ., or maladaptive, negative thoughts. Through Socratic questioning and guided discussions, clients learn to challenge and reframe these maladaptive beliefs, promoting emotional healing and recovery.What are the techniques used in Cognitive Processing Therapy?
The key technique in CPT is cognitive restructuring, where clients learn to identify and challenge cognitive distortions, such as self-blame or negative views of the world. Additionally, CPT may include exposure techniques, where individuals engage in writing about their traumatic experiences to facilitate emotional processing.Who can benefit from Cognitive Processing Therapy?
CPT is effective for your clients in treating trauma-related conditions, particularly PTSD with symptoms including but not limited to nightmares and flashbacks. It has also shown positive outcomes in individuals with other psychological challenges, such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, especially when these conditions co-occur with trauma.How does CPT compare to other trauma-focused therapies?
CPT shares similarities with other trauma-focused therapies, such as prolonged exposure (PE) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), as they all address traumatic memories and cognitive processing. However, CPT differs in its emphasis on cognitive restructuring and does not involve exposure techniques as extensively as PE and EMDR.What are the advantages of using Cognitive Processing Therapy on clients needing trauma treatment?
The benefits of using CPT on clients include:- Strong empirical support: CPT has been extensively researched and shown to be effective in treating trauma-related conditions.
- Time-limited and structured: CPT offers a structured treatment approach, making it accessible and effective within a defined timeframe.
- Versatility: While designed for trauma treatment, CPT can be adapted to address other mental health challenges.
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Kathleen M. Chard, Ph.D., is a co-developer of CPT and director of the Trauma Recovery Center at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. Serving as the VA CPT Implementation Director, Dr. Chard oversees the dissemination of CPT to mental health clinicians across the United States. She is the co-author of Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD: A Comprehensive Model (The Guilford Press, 2017) and author of CPT for Sexual Abuse treatment manual (2012). A sought-after speaker, Dr. Chard has personally trained over 5,000 clinicians throughout the United States on using CPT with veterans, active-duty personnel, and civilians in addition to overseeing the training of tens of thousands of others via the trainers she supervises. She is co-chair of a 17-site study comparing CPT to Prolonged Exposure in US veterans in addition to conducting a $6 million-dollar Department of Defense study on the assessment of PTSD. She served as a past editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress and is a professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Kathleen Chard has employment relationships with Cincinnati Veterans Administration Medical Center, the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Medical Center, the University of Cincinnati, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. She receives royalties as a published author. She has a research activity that is grant funded through DoD/CDMRP/TBIPHRP and the PESI Foundation. Kathleen Chard receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Kathleen Chard is an ad hoc reviewer for several peer review journals, for a complete list contact PESI, Inc. She is a member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
