CBT for Trauma, by Brianna Sculley, LCSW

Most people who are familiar with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) likely associate it with treating anxiety. However, CBT techniques help with a variety of mental health symptoms, including those related to trauma!

If you are suffering from past traumas, then working with a CBT therapist can assist and change problematic thought patterns, which can lead to an increased feeling of safety in your daily life. With a therapist's support, you will eventually reflect on what occurred without being constantly triggered.

Let’s explore how CBT helps people who are dealing with trauma.

Address Catastrophizing

A person with PTSD can fear that many situations will have a catastrophic outcome. After living through a traumatic experience, this is certainly understandable. However, if you catastrophize often, it will hold you back from trying new things. It could even prevent you from staying in touch or socializing with your loved ones. Through CBT, your therapist can help you envision realistic outcomes for different situations, which will ultimately help you avoid jumping to the worst-case scenario and allowing for more freedom in your life.

Re-evaluate Negative Thoughts

If you live with PTSD, you may find yourself trapped in the same negative thought cycles over and over again. Unfortunately, simply telling yourself to “think positive” isn’t going to be effective. Instead, you can re-evaluate these negative thoughts and address the cognitive distortions. You’ll start to see how certain thought patterns don’t serve you and why you adopted them out of a self-protective urge in the first place.

Gathering Evidence

After going through a traumatic experience, it can be hard to clearly see a situation due to increased fear and expectations based on past events that cloud the present reality. You may be triggered by things that wouldn’t seem threatening to others, or you might feel unsafe in situations that remind you of your trauma, even if you are “technically” safe.
It can take time for your brain and body to register that you truly are okay in a given situation. Your therapist will teach you how to gather evidence and focus on increasing feelings of safety. This will help ground your perspective in evidence, which is an essential part of CBT.

Establish New Thought Patterns

Your CBT therapist will also help you build new thought patterns to boost your mood, alleviate your PTSD symptoms, and navigate challenging situations with confidence.
In therapy, you’ll focus on creating new ways of thinking by using affirmations you can refer to whenever you feel overwhelmed. It can be hard to rewrite beliefs that you developed due to a traumatic experience, but your perspective will shift over time.

Form Positive Associations

Through CBT, you can begin to form new, positive or neutral associations with things that may have reminded you of trauma in the past. Yes, this process takes time, but your therapist will cultivate a safe environment where you can analyze your trauma without feeling like you are reliving the experience. As time goes on, you’ll begin to focus on new associations, reducing the effects of former triggers. Always reach out if you would like assistance as PTSD can be highly challenging to face on your own.