Trauma- Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: an Effective Treatment Modality for Children and Adolescents Who Have Experienced Traumatic Incidents

A., Mannarino, A. P., Kliethermes, M., & Murray, L. A. (2012). Trauma-focused CBT for youth with complex trauma. Child abuse & neglect, 36(6), 528-541.

In order to do this, she must meet with a Psychotherapist for individual counseling once a month for a period of 1 year. In addition, she must also attend group counseling to develop the appropriate coping skills necessary. According to Larry E. Beutler, Rebecca E. Williams and Heidi A. Zetzer, authors of the article “Efficacy of Treatment for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse” (1994), some of the most common and popular forms of treatment interventions available to victims of abuse include individual, family, and group counseling. Research found that these “programs focus their most intensive treatment efforts on the child victim” (Beutler et al., 1994, p.159). Treatment through individual and group counseling is achieved through 4 therapeutic aims: “relieving symptoms, destigmatizing, increasing self-esteem, and preventing future abuse” (Beutler, et al., 1994, p. 159). The second treatment objective Precious must address is to learn about breaking the cycle of abuse. In order to accomplish this goal, she must speak with her mother about the trauma she encountered and learn to manage her anger in a healthy way. According to the article “Effective Practices for Sexually Traumatized Girls: Implications for Counseling and Education” (2007) by authors Lee Underwood, Sarah E. Stewart & Anita M. Castellanos, “Mode Deactivation Therapy (MDT) was

It is applied based on the need of the child. In the initial stage, which is engagement stage, the objective is to make them feel motivated and offer a better way of thinking. The next step involves behavioral change which is achieved by actively involving them to do things that they enjoy. By so doing, the therapist will have enabled the client to develop an alternative way of thinking making them feel better. At the end of the sessions the cognitive interventions facilitated by therapist will have helped the client (child) on ways to attend to information, identify thinking errors and help them to consider other alternatives in their thinking process hence develop a more unbiased thinking.

TF-CBT was originally developed in 1997 and was eventually published in book form in 2006, by Judith Cohen, Anthony Mannarino, and Esther Deblinger, a team of professionals studying interventions for child sexual abuse survivors. TF-CBT is a merger of earlier trauma-focused approaches that were originally directed toward treatment for child sexual abuse survivors (Cohen et

Once my client is stabilized from the initial concerns of severe depression and suicide attempts, TF-CBT could be introduced. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children Affected by Sexual Abuse or Trauma. (2012) suggests that the following areas be covered psychoeducation and parenting skills, relaxation techniques, affective expressions and regulation, cognitive coping and processing, trauma narrative and processing, in vivo exposure, conjoint parent/child sessions and enhancing personal safety and future

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a conjoint child and parent psychotherapy approach for children and adolescents who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties related to traumatic life events. This online TF-CBT course shows step by step instruction in ten modules for each component of therapy. According to the introduction on the Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy website it states that, “There is strong scientific evidence that TF-CBT helps children, adolescents, and their parents overcome many of the difficulties associated with abuse and trauma.” This is a very detailed online course that gives live video examples on how each process is done.

This theory proposes that a traumatic event produces maladaptive assumptions and beliefs about the world, other people, and the self that interfere with recovery (Schultz, Barnes-Proby, Chandra, Jaycox, Maher, & Pecora, 2012). CBITS uses cognitive-behavioral techniques (for example, psychoeducation, relaxation, social problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and exposure). Cognitive-behavioral therapies work to teach people skills to combat these underlying issues, including correction of maladaptive assumptions, processing the traumatic experience instead of avoiding it, learning new ways to reduce anxiety and solve problems, building peer and parent support, and building confidence to confront stress in the future (Schultz, et al.,

Recognizing a need for mental health professionals efficient in trauma-informed care for these children, Judy Cohen, MD, Ester Deblinger, PhD, and Anthony Manarino, PhD, developed Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), to serve as a specialized treatment approach to responding to the needs to these youth. TF-CBT helps children that have experienced traumatic events overcome the symptoms that may be left behind. According to the National Center for Child Traumatic stress, TF-CBT provides education and understanding of common reactions and symptoms that may result from sexual abuse and other forms of trauma. This type

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was stablished by Congress in 2000 and brings a comprehensive focus to childhood trauma. This network raises the average standard of care and improves access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States. The NCTSN defines trauma‑focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF‑CBT) as an evidence‑based treatment approach that is shown to help children, adolescents, and their caregivers overcome trauma‑related difficulties. It is designed to reduce negative emotional and behavioral responses following a traumatic event. The treatment addresses distorted beliefs related to the abuse and provides a supportive environment so the individual can talk about their traumatic experience. TF‑CBT also helps parents cope with their own emotional issues and develop skills to support their children.

Silverman, W. K., Ortiz, C. D., Viswesvaran, C., Burns, B. J., Kolko, D. J., Putnam, F. W., & Amaya-Jackson, L. (2008). Evidence-Based psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37, 1, 156-183.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that involves conjoint therapy sessions of with the child and the parent. This approach is employed among children and/or adolescents that are experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties that are significant and related to life events that are traumatic (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2012). TF-CBT is a components-based model of treatment that includes intervention that are trauma-sensitive and cognitive behavioral, family and humanistic therapy

TF-CBT is evidence-based and effective for various reasons including, “(1) enhancing safety early in treatment; (2) effectively engaging parents who experience personal ongoing trauma; and (3) during the trauma narrative and processing component focusing on (a) increasing parental awareness and acceptance of the extent of the youths’ on going trauma experiences; (b) addressing youths’ maladaptive cognitions about ongoing traumas; and (c) helping youth differentiate between real danger and generalized trauma reminders.” (Cohen, Mannarino, & Murray, 2011, p.128). Children and adolescent who have participated in TF-CBT have experienced a decrease in depression, improvement in social competence, and reduced PTSD symptoms across the board time and

There are a variety of evidence based practices that are being implemented for children and families within the welfare system. Many of these contemporary evidence based practices can be found online. The website known as The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare contains a list of all the different evidence based practices related to topics such as, anger management, substance abuse treatment, interventions for neglect, and depression treatment. One successful contemporary evidence based practice that has shown great effectiveness is known as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). The primary focus of this paper will consist of TF-CBT and will explore the methodology and effectiveness of this

TF-CBT is an evidence-based practice that is used for trauma caused by violence, abuse, sexual abuse or other traumatic events. Usually, this evidence-based practice is used for children ages 3-17. The Modular approach to therapy for children (MATCH) is focused on overcoming the current challenges and provide with various treatment to address the current problem (Lucassen et al., 2015). The MATCH is an evidence-based practice that is used for anxiety, trauma and behavior problems with children from ages 6-15 years old. There have been more studies using qualitative research that TF-CBT is effective evidence-based practice and has positive outcomes for clients. TF-CBT is a short-term therapy that will help the client overcome their trauma and have a positive outcome once therapy is over. As for MATCH, there has not been a lot of qualitative research because it is used rarely in other countries. There have been more quantitative research reports that have been conducted based on the client and the statistics. Therefore, based on the research that was conducted with the two evidence-based practice the writer prefer to used TF-CBT because it provides with human behavior and the data that is used is with the current participants that were using TF-CBT and their experience.

“With effective treatment, children can recover from sexual abuse and other traumas. In TF-CBT, one key to recovery is encouraging children to open up and talk freely about their trauma (Getz, 2012).” First trauma-Focused cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is an evidence based treatment is a model designed to assist children and their families in overcoming the negative effects of traumatic experience. There are many types of trauma events such as child abuse, domestic violence, rape violent and community violence and etc. I will be discussing three main section which are: Facing trauma, Evidence based treatment and what differentiates TF-CBT.