What is trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy? And how does it help?
Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy, or trauma focused therapy is an approach to therapy that centers on trauma recovery and how to recognize the effects that trauma leaves on a person. Specifically, the ways in which trauma can affect a person's physical, mental or cognitive health and overall well being.
As we all know, everyone reacts to trauma in different ways, sometimes trauma leaves lifelong impact and sometimes it doesn’t. Post trauma effects are usually diagnosed as “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on controlling and improving your post traumatic responses.
There are 3 stages to trauma focused CBT :
Stage 1 is stabilization where your therapist will introduce you to coping skills for trauma and aid you in stabilizing your relaxation and affective regulation skills, as well as managing your cognitive processing skills.
Stage 2 is normally a "trauma narrative" where the therapist walks their patient through the act of telling their trauma story or explaining the traumatic event. The patient is also asked to talk through the feelings and emotions that arose during the experience.
Stage 3 works with integration and consolidation where you work with your therapist to consolidate all that you have learnt through the process, and work on enhancing and improving your connection and communication about the incident.
Note : Trauma focused (cognitive behavioral) therapy has proven to help multiple patients recover and control their cognition after experiencing trauma.
If you have experienced a traumatic event and think that cognitive behavioral therapy will help you cope, please contact your therapist or a professional for further action.
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