Prolonged Exposure Therapy

An interesting form of treatment for PTSD is exposure therapy, this treatment is for people with PTSD as well as substance abuse disorder (Coffey). There were 126 subjects all from an unlocked 6-week community residential SUD treatment facility. The idea behind the study was to add prolonged exposure to a 12-step program for those with PTSD-SUD. It was found that as with other cases prolonged exposure is helpful to those with PTSD and if it is early on in the substance abuse issue then it is helpful with

He discusses the effectiveness of this method and even that it has been proven to completely cure PTSD in some patients, mainly veterans which are my target patient of discussion. This article is credible because it was written by a good psychologist and was published in a credible medical journal.

Posttraumatic stress disorder can occur after someone experiences a traumatic event. Once the mind hits the coping threshold, it is imperative to seek professional help. The VA offers evidence-based treatments, individual, group treatments, and medications. Coping mechanisms range from individual to individual, hence the need for a diverse PTSD program. Under the evidence-based treatment there are two sections: prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy. Prolonged exposure therapy is when someone continues to talk about their fears/trauma to gain control of feelings associated with those fears. The cognitive processing therapy is to understand the feelings associated with trauma and finding a way to replace negative feelings with positive

Foa and her colleagues (2011) created prolonged Exposure (PE) for clients trying to overcome with PTSD that is based on the emotional processing therapy (Foa, 2011). PE treatment plan includes collecting of information associated to both the traumatic experience and the trauma survivor's responses to it, the teaching of breathing retraining techniques, education, the re-experiencing of the trauma in imagination, and in vivo exposure (Foa, 2011). When compared with CPT, PE is a 10-session treatment (60-90 minutes) that is centered on both in-vivo and imaginal exposure to the trauma memory and ensuing adaptation. PE reports that repetitive stimulation of the trauma memory allows the clients to integrate new, counteractive information about themself and their world. Additionally, homework assignments in PE allow the client to face safe situations, which were formerly resolute to be threatening based upon inaccurate post-traumatic beliefs (Foa,

The symptoms that are being treated through this individualized treatment plan related to post traumatic stress disorder are: dissociative reactions, irritable and aggressive behavior, concentration problems, and trauma-related external reminders. The first goal is in place to assist Precious in learning to eliminate intrusive memories, a “notable feature of memory in PTSD is the reliving experiences or “flashbacks” to the trauma” (Berwin, 2003, p. 340), and addressing causes of these memories through the intervention of prolonged exposure. In addition, the second goal that is being implemented, preventing and addressing distortions, is being addressed through prolonged exposure. This technique is “a general treatment strategy for reducing anxiety that involves confronting situations, activities, thoughts, and memories that are feared and avoided even though they are not inherently harmful.” (Foa, 1998, p. 65). The flashbacks and distortions that Precious experiences are being addressed through prolonged exposure, due the fact that it

Although American service members have felt the lasting effects of combat throughout the history of the nation, it was not until 1980 that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was formally added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Once referred to as “irritable heart” or “shell-shock,” PTSD made its way into the national spotlight in the years following the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan due to U.S. military members having difficulty reintegrating into civilian life. High rates of suicide, depression, and elevated levels of violent crime within the veteran community made the need to find an effective treatment of this disorder a top priority for the Veterans Health Administration. While it is widely accepted by medical professionals that there is no single, definitive cure for PTSD, many different methods have been cultivated within the past 15 years that make coping with it an easier process; some to a greater extent than others. While medications, namely antidepressants and benzodiazepines, usually find themselves at the forefront of any discussion regarding mental debilitation, they are not a one-size-fits-all solution to the problems that combat veterans face. As this particular disorder is attached to a certain memory or traumatic occurrence, alternative methods of rehabilitation such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) have also shown promise in

In thinking about developing an exposure-based model working with veterans who experience PTSD, I plan to use prolonged exposure therapy (PE) because it has been shown to be effective with veterans and in treating anxiety and depression. I plan to use a 15-session model that has been adapted already for use within the Department of Veteran Affairs. This model will be implemented using small groups of six. Knowing that Veterans typically have a trust issue when it comes to personal problems, it will be important that I take the time to establish a trusting therapeutic relationship. Therefore, I will initially meet with each Veteran individually and explain the group atmosphere and the basis of PE, as well as building rapport,

Unfortunately, the misguided belief of trigger warnings being a protection to PTSD in the classroom may only further damage sufferers. According to Dr. Mark Beuger, an addiction psychiatrist at Deerfield Behavioral Health of Warren, the goal of PTSD treatment is “to allow for processing of the traumatic experience without becoming so emotional that processing is impossible.” (Stone) For trigger warnings to work, the subject must be willing to confront their fears, not avoid them. In an analysis by the Institute of Medicine, they found that exposure therapy is the most effective in treating PTSD. Working with therapists, patients are consistently asked to recount their traumatic experiences in the present-tense. The aim of this is to break the connection between the emotional response and the trauma-related stimuli, so that in the event of a traumatic situation, the patient will be able to deal with the impact of the event.

According to Tuerk, Yoder, Ruggiero, Gros & Acierno (2010), prolonged exposure therapy is a form of therapy treatment applied in posttraumatic stress disorders. Prolonged exposure treatment based on behavioral and cognitive levels of therapy, is a method used in treatment of trauma where the victim remembers the triggers of trauma rather than letting go, as it has been the case. Trained Social workers, psychologists and psychiatrist offer treatment to these conditions. What causes post traumatic stress disorders is not clearly known, but a mix of one's personality, inherited mental functionality risks, the way the brain releases chemicals in dealing with stress, and one's life experiences can be used to draw some insights (Powers, Halpern, Ferenschak, Gillihan & Foa, 2010).

Exposure therapy is used to reduce “distress about trauma by confronting trauma-related thoughts, feelings, and situations that a soldier avoids due to the distress they cause” (“Prolonged Exposure Therapy”). This therapy can be affective but it also forces soldiers to relive past trauma. According to the scholarly article “”PTSD in Active Combat Soldiers: To Treat or Not to Treat”, exposure therapy “reduces PTSD symptoms and also associated with reducing depression, anger, and guilt” (Wangelin et al). This article also states the “PTSD symptoms improved from exposure therapy even when treated with the presence of depression, severe mental illness, traumatic brain injury, and substance dependence” (Wangelin et al). This article discusses how exposure therapy can be seen as a treatment for PTSD while other sources are to assist the healing process. Exposure therapy has clear results but opposing views may point out some of the ethical issues involved with the use of exposure therapy. One issue pointed out in the article is the idea of allowing suffering soldiers to revisit their traumatic pasts (Wangelin et al). Exposure therapy may be affective but if it were to fail, soldiers may be having worse symptoms of PTSD due to the repeated exposure of the trauma. This article does address this issue in their report by saying; “service members treated for PTSD who then return to combat would

Existing controlled examinations of intervention efficacy specific to only sexual assault and rape are presently minimal in comparison to intervention examinations of combination or other types of trauma (Regehr, Alaggia, Dennis, Pitts, & Saini, 2013). Psychotherapeutic interventions that fail to differentiate sexual assault and rape victims from other types of trauma victims may decrease the treatment effectiveness or inadvertently harm participants in this subgroup. Trauma associated from rape or sexual assault differs from other forms of trauma and treatment efficacy should be examined in this manner. Trauma from rape or sexual assault entail symptoms of PTSD, depression, suicidal ideations and sexual dysfunction. Individuals may also indicate feelings of vulnerability, loss of control, fear, shame, self-blame, societal blame and stigma (Russell & Davis, 2007; Regehr et al., 2013; Ullman &Peter-Hagene, 2014). This research proposal intends to explore the long term effectiveness of Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) at reducing distress and trauma explicitly for adult victims of sexual assault and rape.

If veterans do struggle with PTSD after they return from combat the Department of Veterans Affairs, a governmental agency that helps struggling veterans recover, offers two treatments. Studies have been done to see if one of the therapies is more effective than the other. There is not yet evidence that one therapy is better than the other. Cognitive processing therapy, CPT, helps by giving the vet a new way to deal with the maladaptive thoughts that come with PTSD. It also comforts them in gaining a new understanding of the traumatic events that happened to them. One of the other benefits of CPT is that it assists the person in learning how these disturbing events change the way they look at everything in life and helps them cope with that (“PTSD: National”). The second newer option of the two is prolonged exposure therapy, which is repeated exposure to these thoughts, feelings, and situations (“Most PTSD”). This type of therapy is now a central piece in the VA’s war on PTSD. “The problem with prolonged exposure is that it also has made a number of veterans violent, suicidal, and depressed, and it has a dropout rate that some researchers put at more than 50 percent, the highest dropout rate of any PTSD therapy that has been widely studied so far,”(“Trauma Post”). Both of the therapies are proven to reduce the symptoms but both have extremely high drop out rates and low follow through. It

The therapists that were used were a nurse therapist and a clinical psychologist. In sessions 1 through 5 of Exposure Therapy subjects were asked to imagine their previous trauma memories. Patients were asked to talk in first person tense about what they experienced, and then were asked to imagine and describe critical aspects of the trauma and "rewind and hold"

In this paper the therapies related to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) will be studied in order to determine the applicability thereof for the treatment (and prevention) of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD will be summarised as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders edition 4 with revisions (DSM-IV-TR). The therapy models, their theory and techniques will be discussed. The therapies this paper has in scope are, CBT, Exposure therapy and it’s different related techniques, Stress Inoculation Training (SIT), and Eye Movement Desensitisation

Exposure Therapy is when a therapist works with a patient to carefully gain control of the panic and trauma associated with the anxiety caused by their fear. It is commonly used to help patients to address the cause of the panic, and to work with the panic rather than ignore it altogether. The goal is not to re-traumatize the patient but rather to have them be able to work with their panic at a pace comfortable to them. The goal is to not let the patient use safety mechanisms such as avoidance and distraction, which are behaviors that can commonly be used by those who suffer from this type of panic hindering their ability to overcome the fear. There are two types of Exposure Therapies, graduated exposure and flooding. Graduated exposure is