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Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for adults is a type of mental health treatment. It's used to help people who have experienced trauma find ways to manage hurtful behaviors and emotions. The goal of this therapy is to help the person create a life worth living. This post will cover what Trauma-Informed CBT for adults is, when it is used, and how it helps people recover from PTSD and traumatic experiences. Living a full and satisfying life after trauma is possible.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma is a common response to a deeply distressing event or situation that overwhelms a person's ability to cope. The traumatic experience causes feelings of helplessness, fear, or lasting sadness. People often lose their sense of self and their ability to fully feel their emotions.
Traumatic life events include combat in war zones, natural disasters, being in an accident, and physical and/or sexual attacks. However, many people are traumatized as a result of relationships. Common causes of trauma in this area include:
- Bullying
- Sexual abuse
- Domestic violence
- Partner betrayal
- Being raised by parents with addiction or mental illness
- Parental divorce or one’s divorce
- Death of a close friend or family member
People can experience Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms for weeks or months. Responses to trauma can be different from person to person. However, in most cases, these symptoms resolve on their own over time. When the symptoms persist and get worse, that person is at significant risk for developing PTSD.
What Is PTSD?
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that occurs after someone has experienced or witnessed a trauma that overwhelmed their ability to cope so badly that they can't recover from it.
Any person, regardless of age, sex, gender, nationality, race, or ethnicity can develop PTSD. In the U.S., members of the Latino, Black, and Asian communities, as well as women, are more likely to develop PTSD. Approximately 3.5% of U.S. adults are diagnosed with PTSD every year. About 1 in 11 adults in the U.S. will be diagnosed with PTSD in their lifetime.
PTSD causes physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms such as:
- Forgetting parts of the trauma.
- Being scared and on alert all the time.
- Avoiding people, places, emotions, and/or thoughts related to the traumatic event
- Feeling emotionally numb.
- Developing Anxiety Disorders and Depression.
- Having ongoing sleep issues (e.g., insomnia, frequent nightmares).
- Physical health issues (e.g, high blood pressure, palpitations, muscle tension, frequent illnesses, pain disorders).
These symptoms happen because a traumatized person’s brain, nervous system, and body have been negatively changed by the experience. As a result, it becomes difficult for them to process different kinds of situations and information properly. This leads to everything around them feeling more painful, dangerous, and risky.
To qualify for a diagnosis of PTSD, these symptoms have to be present for at least a month and cause significant issues in daily functioning.
Why Is Trauma-Informed Care Important?
Trauma-informed mental health therapists know how to create a sense of stability and safety for traumatized people. This group is at higher risk for developing substance abuse disorders, mental health issues, and medical illnesses. Trauma-informed therapists also understand the deep impact trauma has on every area of life. They are trained to tailor their behavior, words, and treatment approach based on a person’s needs, personality, and triggers.
Trauma therapy can help people with PTSD as well as other trauma-related mental health issues. It builds on the inner strengths someone already has. Therapy helps someone develop a sense of safety as well as skills to handle the impact of trauma. As a result, the patient can work through the mental health issues keeping them stuck. The therapist must tailor the treatment to the type of trauma the patient has experienced, whether it's been ongoing, and who was involved.
Trauma-informed therapy for adults is different than that used with traumatized children and teens. Due to how our brains, bodies, and emotions develop at different stages, treatment for children and teens has to be appropriate to the child's needs and age. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT Treatment) is used with children and teens who are dealing with trauma or PTSD. It requires specific training that focuses on supporting the child while addressing issues related to their family as well as the circumstances they are living in.
What is Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
This treatment approach is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people change their thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors in order to make their lives better. With trauma-informed CBT, a therapist helps the person change their thoughts and beliefs about the trauma. As a result, people learn to manage behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that are triggered by past or current overwhelming experiences.
People can recover from traumatic experiences through understanding what caused the trauma, accepting that it happened, and finding new meaning from the experience. As a result, when they have a painful emotion or memory, they can respond to it differently.
How Does Trauma-Informed CBT Work?
Trauma-informed approaches to therapy are based on the idea that trauma impacts our thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations. This makes it difficult to think clearly or objectively about the trauma or life beforehand.
For this reason, creating a sense of safety for someone with PTSD symptoms is a critical first step in treatment. Unless therapy happens in a space that feels safe, there is a very small chance that the patient will open up enough to allow for healing.
CBT focuses on problem-solving skills. These new skills can help people change their emotional and physical reactions when confronted by triggers.
The goals of trauma-based CBT are to:
- Promote a greater sense of control and trust.
- Develop healthier and more effective ways to respond.
- Calm panic responses in the body.
What Are Common Trauma-Informed Therapies?
After a traumatic event, it's very common for someone to experience their thoughts and bodily sensations separately. To calm their distress, they tend to rely on behaviors or substances that help them numb pain. Examples include drugs, sex, food, and/or being violent toward others. The goal of this therapy is to retrain the brain and body by connecting thoughts with feelings.
CBT for trauma usually involves helping a person develop new beliefs about the trauma, their role in it, and their ability to cope. They may also learn skills for dealing with overwhelming thoughts and feelings as well as how to handle emergencies. Therapists usually also teach people strategies for calming their bodies such as deep breathing.
It’s very common for therapists to use a combination of techniques when working with traumatized patients. Different techniques can help patients work through emotional blocks in helpful ways. This boosts the impact of the CBT treatment.
Other treatment methods that are commonly used with trauma-informed CBT include mindfulness, relaxation therapy, art therapy, and EMDR. Any additional treatment methods must fit the patient’s unique needs.
Is Trauma-Informed CBT Effective?
Research indicates that evidence-based trauma treatment is highly effective, whether it's used alone or with medication. Relapse rates are usually much lower once someone has finished cognitive-focused trauma therapy compared to just using medication.
Two main types of CBT are most effective in treating trauma:
Exposure Therapy:
Exposure-based therapy for trauma has the most research indicating it's successful in helping people recover from trauma. In this approach, the therapist and patient work on gradual exposure to the feared situation (e.g., driving on a busy highway) without any risk of the negative consequence happening (e.g., getting physically hurt in a car accident).
Repeating exposures as well as increasing their difficulty level eventually leads to breaking the association between the situation and overwhelming feelings (e.g., fear, anxiety).
Cognitive Processing Therapy:
This approach helps people identify the trauma narratives as well as hurtful stories and beliefs they developed. It provides strategies for looking at whether these stories and beliefs hold up now. Once a person develops a new perspective, therapy shifts toward teaching people how to challenge and change these beliefs. As a result, trauma survivors should feel safer and less anxious about the world.
Is Medication a Better Trauma Treatment?
Psychiatric medication is a common part of trauma therapy. These medications can help reduce the intensity of different symptoms. As a result, daily functioning and participating in therapy are easier.
When people only use medication to treat trauma-related symptoms, they experience relief as long as they continue using the medication. However, they are more likely to relapse once they stop taking medication. The main reason is that they don't learn to identify hurtful beliefs, understand where they came from, learn to challenge them, and develop new coping skills.
Next Steps for Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Most people report feeling much better after finishing a trauma-informed CBT program. However, like any form of psychotherapy, not everyone will experience the same kind of results. That's why it’s important to work closely with a highly trained therapist who can figure out what's working. Then, they can make recommendations and/or changes based on a person's unique needs.
It's also essential that patients complete the entire treatment, learn to watch for warning signs that their overall functioning is getting worse, and check in with a therapist even after treatment is over to monitor progress.
When It’s Time to Start Trauma Therapy
Most people don’t know what to expect from therapy. They are also afraid to make themselves vulnerable by facing tough memories and emotions.
The good news is that you don't have to suffer or figure everything out on your own.
Wishing you the best of luck working through the feelings, thoughts, and memories that are keeping you stuck. You can live a fulfilling life despite the trauma you’ve experienced.
Ready to overcome trauma and feel the stability you want?
I am a psychologist and marriage and family therapist in San Diego, CA. I have significant experience working with adults, couples, and families dealing with trauma. Contact me so that we can help you overcome trauma and build the life you want.
Keyword: Trauma-Informed CBT
Phone: 619-514-3320
Fax: 619-880-2587
Encomium Psychology
2801 B St #2134, San Diego, CA 92102-2208
Encomium Psychology focuses on building possibilities and potential through in-person and online counseling for individuals, couples, and families in San Diego, CA.
