COGNITIVE PROCESSING THERAPY: Change the way you think. Change the way you live.

There’s a reason many organizations* consider Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) a good fit for trauma survivors, and it’s the same reason that it works well for those experiencing depression, anxiety, and stress disorders.

Individuals who experience them have a few things in common:

-They often view themselves, their lives, their worlds in a negative way.

-They frequently approach trust in others, self, or the world as either total or none.

-Often they see people or situations in absolutes. “I will always feel this way.” Or, “All men/women/teachers/coaches/clergy can't be trusted.”

-Most feel hopeless about the future.

-Most feel disempowered.

-Many feel stuck.

CPT gives people the right tools to change the way they think. What you think affects the way you feel and make choices. If you think, “I will always be damaged”, then you interpret events according to that belief. If you continue to believe that you’re forever damaged, it may lead you to avoid social situations, significant relationships, the next step in your career, or pursuing friendships - because the next thoughts usually are:

“Who wants to be with someone so damaged?”

Or, “I can’t apply for that job. I’m too damaged/weak/incompetent to be effective. I’ll be exposed as a failure.”

Or, “I can’t tolerate being in social situations because people will pick up on how damaged I am. I’ll be rejected”.

You can see how one single thought makes your world become that much narrower.

CPT providers come from the assumption that knowledge isn’t a commodity - counselors and therapists don’t have an exclusive hold on it. Rather, a CPT counselor will ask you the questions to guide you into different ways of thinking.

If you believe “I am likable and competent”, then the next thoughts become:

“I can apply for that position and there’s a good chance I’ll get it.”

Or, “I will go to that party and meet new people, even make a new friend.”

Or, “I’m comfortable being myself when I go out on dates.”

Not only that, your feelings can change from discouragement to hope. Your self-view can change from someone powerless to someone competent.

One added plus: if you don’t want to talk about the trauma or abuse incidents, you don’t have to. The objective of CPT is to change your beliefs, not to dive deep into the incidents.

WHO IS CPT FOR? For those who are willing to commit to working on themselves daily. You will get sheets to help you change your thinking everyday. This helps you become aware of how pervasive the unhelpful thoughts are. And this instills the habit of checking your thoughts and being able to change them towards helpful directions. Often people get discouraged, anxious, or commit self-sabotage without knowing why. With CPT, you will. Then you can change it.

WHO SHOULDN’T START CPT? For those who can’t commit to working on themselves everyday, for any reason. The reasons may seem reasonable to you, BUT with trauma, abuse, depression, anxiety, we are working against months, years, even decades of having and acting out of unhelpful thoughts. One session every week won’t be near enough to start changing what you believe about yourself, others, and the world.

If you’re willing and able to regularly work on yourself, let’s start using CPT to get you to a more hopeful future.

*Just a few of the many organizations that utilize CPT:

(1) US Department of Veteran Affairs

(2) UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, ABC Intensive Outpatient Program, Los Angeles, CA

(3) University of South Florida, Rothman Center for Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Intensive CBT for OCD, Tampa, FL.

(4) Weill Cornell Medicine, Intensive Treatment Program for Children and Adolescents, NY, NY

(5) Emory Wesley Woods Hospital, Adult Intensive Outpatient Counseling Program, Atlanta, GA

Photo Credit: Rebe Pascual on Unsplash

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