Approach to treatment
Therapy is a commitment of your time, money, and emotional energy. I believe research should be one source of information we use when deciding how to invest those resources, along with clinical experience, careful assessment, your circumstances, and your preferences.
The evidence
An evidence-based therapy is one that has been systematically studied to determine whether it is effective. Researchers may measure symptoms before and after treatment, compare outcomes among people receiving different treatments, or examine whether improvements continue after treatment has ended.
A broad framework
CBT is a broad, evidence-based approach to therapy that can be adapted to specific treatment goals. It can help you understand how your thoughts and actions interact with your circumstances and identify areas where change may be possible. This may include using worksheets to track patterns, trying experiments to test new ways of responding, or learning skills to regulate emotions and improve communication.
PTSD treatment
For PTSD, I offer several evidence-based treatments that follow a defined course of therapy. We will decide together whether one of these approaches is appropriate for you. At the end of the protocol, we can evaluate your progress and determine whether additional work would be helpful.
Prolonged Exposure is a structured treatment for PTSD that involves gradually and systematically approaching trauma memories and situations that have become associated with fear or distress. With repeated practice, these reminders can become less distressing and begin to have less influence over how you live your life.
PE is an active, experiential treatment. In my clinical experience, it can be a particularly good fit for people who prefer learning by doing.
Cognitive Processing Therapy focuses on how a traumatic experience can affect the way you think about yourself, other people, and the world. Trauma can leave people with “stuck points”—beliefs about the experience or its aftermath that can interfere with recovery.
CPT teaches you to identify these beliefs, examine them carefully, and develop greater flexibility in how you think about the trauma and its impact. The treatment uses structured questions and worksheets to guide this process. In my clinical experience, CPT can be a particularly good fit for people who prefer to approach problems in a logical, analytical way.
Written Exposure Therapy involves writing about the traumatic experience during therapy sessions. This provides an opportunity to approach trauma rather than avoid it, explore your deepest thoughts and feelings, and develop a more coherent account of what happened. The writing is largely patient-led, with relatively little prompting from the therapist.
In my clinical experience, WET can be a good fit for people who prefer time to reflect and put their experience into their own words rather than talking through it extensively with a therapist.
Beyond protocols
Not every reason for coming to therapy calls for a structured treatment protocol. Sometimes what is most helpful is having a place to talk openly, where you can sort through what you are thinking and feeling, receive support and thoughtful feedback, and gain understanding of yourself and your situation.
Questions about treatment?