Essay - Cpt and PE for PTSD Comparison of Therapies for the...

CPT and PE for PTSD comparison of therapies ***** the treatment of sexual assault related posttraumatic stress disorder

Before one can adequately discuss appropriate treatment regimens for ***** stress ********** patients, ***** must have a clear idea ***** the diagnostic criteria for the condition. The primary element of this condition is that the symptoms of are directly related to ***** follow the patient's exposure to some extreme traumatic event which involves direct personal experience resulting in actual or ***** threat of death, serious injury, ***** to the individual's physical integrity ***** being a witness to the same incident happening to ano*****r. In general this patient will ***** extreme fear, a sense of helplessness or h*****ror. The result of the exposure to ***** tr*****uma results in a repeated reliving of the event, ***** avoidance of anything similar to the event and an all over general numbing associated, interestingly enough, with hyper arousal ***** ***** vigilance. To make the diagnosis ***** Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD), one must experience these symptoms ***** at least one month and there must be a significant degree of distress or impairment in global functioning *****cause ***** this incident (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)

Two methods of treatment ***** considered to be of significant efficacy in the treatment of *****, as it applies to surviv*****s of sexual assault.. One is cogn*****ive process*****g therapy and one is prolonged ***** therapy, both elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. It ***** be the focus ***** this paper to descri***** the two ***** in ***** detail, to review ***** pros and cons of each and attempt ***** assess if either can be judged to be more effective in the treatment of PTSD. (Buckley, T.C., Blanchard, E.B. & Hickling, E.J., 1998).

***** Exposure *****rapy

Prolonged exposure *****rapy is frequently used in intervention for individuals experiencing PTSD. This ***** usu*****y consists of individual therapy sessions during ***** the patient will review the ***** events of their lives ***** in effect become more comfortable with the psychological stress induced by ***** ***** of ***** events. This intervention has been ***** for the last twenty years and ***** been found to be helpful in ***** reduction of ***** symptoms, especially the anxiety, depression ***** associated anger. ***** *****, prolonged exposure *****rapy will consist of several different components:

The ***** will undergo educational ***** and therapy which deal with the common types of emotional and physical reactions to a traumatic event. The patient and trained *****rapist will also explore the etiology of the post traumatic problem.

Imaginal exposure meaning that, under the guidance ***** a professional therapist, the patient will be taken through repeated reliving of ***** specific traumatic memory or memories.

In-vivo exposure meaning ***** under the guidance of a *****rapist, the patient ***** gradually be exposed ***** situations ***** to objects which, despite being inherently harmless, cause signifi*****t fear and will even cause the ***** ***** avoid the situation or object.

***** kind ***** ***** is usually best used in a client population rang*****g from age