Cognitive Processing Therapy

CPT is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that has been effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD that have developed after experiencing a variety of traumatic events including child abuse, combat, rape and natural disasters. CPT is generally delivered over 12 sessions and helps patients learn how to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma. In so doing, the patient creates a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a gold standard treatment for PTSD. I have years of experience applying CPT in my work with hundreds of trauma survivors. Cognitive Processing Therapy involves exploration and processing of thoughts and emotions related to traumatic experience and the various ways in which past traumatic experience comes up in the present. Through this process, clients come to better understand their experiences and the context in which they occurred.

Attended 2 day intensive training by CPT co-developer Dr. Kathleen Chard. Completed 19 hours of CPT group consultation with Dr. Alexandra Macdonald Pending CPT provider status

Identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts and beliefs regarding trauma can provide a path to more freedom in our lives, and I like that CPT does not require us to relive the traumatic experiences in a drawn-out narrative.

Our thoughts - or cognitions - play a tremendous role in how we feel and subsequently behave. When we become more aware of our thoughts, and when we can analyze them without judgement, we can challenge the negative distortions and the shoulds/woulds that stymie us. Often from a very young age, many people are told harmful things about themselves that might not be true but which they accept as gospel anyway. The tools that I share help my clients free themselves.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a specific type of cognitive-behavioral therapy found to be effective for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people who have experienced violence, abuse, natural disasters, or other traumatic events. CPT is short-term, typically conducted over the course of 12 sessions.

I do Cognitive Processing Therapy, and plan to be trained in EMDR in the spring. For Cognitive Processing Therapy, we will complete education about the science behind trauma and how it impacts your brain and body. After this, we'll discuss different types of trauma you may have experienced, as well as positive and negative ways that we cope with trauma. We'll process the specific things you've been through, and look for "stuck points," which are the things keeping you from moving forward.

I am trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy, and use elements of this approach in combination with EMDR. I can provide education about types of trauma and how trauma impacts your brain and body. I can also help to find underlying negative beliefs or "stuck points" that are keeping you from moving forward and healing more fully!

CPT helps people recover from the impacts of trauma by exploring how trauma has changed your core beliefs and how your emotions change alongside that. In CPT, you work to reclaim your true beliefs about—and feelings of—safety, trust, power and control, self-esteem, and intimacy. Reclaiming those beliefs and allowing for the feelings that come up in that process can help you to have a much fuller life, even when PTSD has stolen years or decades from you.

I completed Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) training in 2020. CPT is a can be beneficial in treating trauma and can help change your thoughts about the trauma you've experienced. This modality is used quite a bit by the Veteran's Administration for treating PTSD, and can be helpful for Veterans as well as civilians who have experienced trauma.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a specific type of cognitive-behavioral therapy found to be effective for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people who have experienced violence, abuse, natural disasters, or other traumatic events. CPT is short-term, typically conducted over the course of 12 sessions.