{"id":19775,"date":"2020-12-04T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=19775"},"modified":"2020-12-04T23:31:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T03:31:54","slug":"cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-ptsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-ptsd\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Does cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD work? How effective is it and when is it the right course of treatment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD is also known as talk therapy. It is an important method of working on healing trauma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD and ways it is used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Does cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD work? Yes and no. Find out why it works and why it might not be enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking Can\u2019t Heal Trauma, But It\u2019s an Important First Step<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve discussed, cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD alone isn\u2019t adequate to heal trauma — and if the patient isn\u2019t yet ready to cope with the emotions that come up, it can retraumatize her and increase fixation on the trauma. What\u2019s more, it can be difficult for trauma survivors to articulate what happened to them, because their brains didn\u2019t process the event as a coherent narrative but rather as a collection of fragmented sensations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, talking and acknowledging your trauma in cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD is a critical piece of the healing process. First, talking about your trauma breaks the silence and isolation of keeping it a secret; although many trauma survivors are inclined to withhold or suppress their traumatic memories in an attempt to gain control over the overwhelming emotions they bring up, failing to acknowledge your trauma and the reactions it triggers only inhibits you from managing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, suppressing your emotions<\/a> takes an incredible amount of energy and attention, and takes away from your capacity to pursue goals<\/a>; as a result, you\u2019re likely to feel bored and disengaged from life. And despite your efforts, your chronic hypervigilance is continuing to trigger stress hormones — causing physical ailments such as headaches, muscle pain, and digestive issues, as well as irrational emotions and behavior. You can\u2019t deal with these symptoms until you\u2019ve identified what\u2019s causing them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, when you open up to other people, you create the opportunity to feel heard and understood, which activates your limbic brain and helps in the physiological healing process.  Sharing your experience with others can help break down the isolation of trauma and reconnect you with your community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, if someone fails to respond or understand, it can be further damaging. Non-trauma survivors often can\u2019t handle or don\u2019t want to hear the details of terrible wartime tragedies or child abuse, so trauma survivors withdraw of develop a more palatable narrative for public consumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trauma sufferers need safe spaces to share their experiences in order to recover. This is why therapists are so helpful, as are support groups like Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Adult Children of Alcoholics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trauma Creates Two Versions of the Same Event<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trauma survivors carry two parallel stories about their experiences, from two forms of self-awareness: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Autobiographical self-awareness<\/strong> connects your experiences through the timeline of your life and creates an ongoing narrative. This awareness is based in language and creates the story of your experiences that you tell other people. <\/li>
  2. Moment-to-moment self-awareness<\/strong> is rooted in physical sensations, but if you feel safe and have time, you can put the experience into words. This awareness is the deep, personal truth of how you experience situations. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The two systems are located in different parts of the brain that are largely disconnected, so these two forms of self-awareness don\u2019t always align: You may tell others that you are happy, but your body language<\/a> is slumped and hints at the fact that you feel unhappy. Trauma victims develop a coherent narrative of their trauma that they tell others, but it doesn\u2019t capture — and may even downplay — the terror of their experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you focus too heavily on your autobiographical self-awareness, you may lose sight of your internal truth and suppress your moment-to-moment self-awareness. However, in order to heal, trauma survivors must reconnect with their moment-to-moment self-awareness and come to terms with how the experience of their trauma felt, reconciling that with the often brave-faced narrative they\u2019ve developed in order to endure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Trauma Can Impede Retelling <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    There are some limits to cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD. Sometimes trauma survivors become so overwhelmed by their traumatic memories that the language area of their brain shuts down and they\u2019re rendered speechless. In other cases, the survivors may try to tone down their retelling of a traumatic event so that it doesn\u2019t trigger them, but as a result they may sound evasive and unreliable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD: Methods to Express Yourself <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Since it can be so difficult to connect your inner experiences to language, there are methods you can use to help bridge that divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n