Unlocking Your Healing: What is Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)?

How Does Trauma Get "Stuck"?

Trauma isn't just a memory; it's a disruption to your beliefs. When something traumatic happens, it challenges your fundamental beliefs about safety, trust, control, esteem, and intimacy.

To cope with this overwhelming event, your brain quickly forms conclusions, often called "stuck points" or unhelpful beliefs. These are rigid, negative beliefs that prevent emotional recovery, such as:

• "The world is completely dangerous and I can't trust anyone."

• "It was my fault; I should have done something differently."

• "I am broken and unlovable now."

These stuck points keep you feeling guilty, ashamed, fearful, and isolated. CPT is designed to identify and challenge these specific thoughts.

The CPT Process: How It Works

CPT helps you re-evaluate the impact of the trauma and build a new understanding of yourself and the world. The process typically moves through three main phases:

1. Psychoeducation and Introduction

Your therapist begins by helping you understand how trauma affects your thoughts and emotions. You'll learn the difference between thoughts and feelings, and how your mind formed those "stuck points" as a survival mechanism.

2. Written Account and Core Themes

You will be asked to write a detailed account of the traumatic event and read it aloud to your therapist. This step is not about reliving the event; it's about externalising the memory so you can begin to process it intellectually, not just emotionally. This process quickly exposes the core "stuck points" the memory reinforces.

3. Challenging the Stuck Points

This is the most crucial phase. You will learn and practise skills to:

• Identify: Pinpoint the exact thought ("stuck point") that is keeping you trapped (e.g., "I am completely incompetent.").

• Challenge: Use critical thinking and evidence to question the validity of that thought (e.g., "What evidence suggests I am competent?").

• Update: Write a new, more balanced, and helpful belief that reflects reality and promotes recovery (e.g., "I survived a terrible event, and while I can't control everything, I can control my choices today.").

4. Integrating New Beliefs

The final phase involves applying these new, balanced beliefs to five core areas of life—Safety, Trust, Power/Control, Esteem, and Intimacy—ensuring you have a framework to manage challenges in the future.

What is CPT Used For?

CPT is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment primarily used for:

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Healing the symptoms of chronic avoidance, flashbacks, and hyper-vigilance following trauma.

• Trauma Recovery: Addressing trauma related to military combat, sexual assault, domestic violence, childhood abuse, accidents, or major life crises.

• Complex Grief: Helping clients process unresolved emotional issues and self-blame related to the traumatic loss of a loved one.

• Trauma-Related Guilt and Shame: Targeting the intense feelings of guilt, shame, and self-blame that often develop after a traumatic event.

If you feel like your trauma is controlling your life, CPT offers a structured, active pathway to regain control, challenge limiting beliefs, and step into a story of survival and resilience.