CPT Group

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is an evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This group therapy looks at the impact a traumatic event has had on one’s life and helps examine and change unhelpful thoughts and feelings related to the event, one’s self, others, and the world. An important part of therapy is addressing ways of thinking that might keep an individual “stuck” and get in the way of recovery from symptoms of PTSD and other problems. CPT includes four stages: 1.education about PTSD and CPT, 2. processing the trauma through a written trauma narrative, 3. learning to challenge thoughts about the trauma, and 4. addressing specific areas of life typically impacted by trauma. In moving through these stages, individuals can create a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event so that it reduces its ongoing negative effects on current life.