Cpt Begins For Husband

[LilacFaerie]

I accompanied my hubby to his first day of CPT therapy yesterday - the counselor thought it would be a good idea for me to get an overview of what CPT consisted of so that I knew what to expect from my husband over the next 12 weeks.

Poor hubby could only sit there on edge the entire time, he looked like a caged animal, quiet but on high alert for ..... for what, I don't know. I knew from our early years that he thought psychotherapy was a joke and medication was only there to 'hide' the problems....and here he sits, in 2011, in a therapist's office. Ironic. And very difficult for him to swallow.

I listened to everything the therapist said, and appreciated the fact that he was everything my husband could learn to "tolerate" in a therapist. The doc reads my husband very well and respects his boundaries, but at the same time isn't afraid to be firm with him and get him to see where his PTSD needs attention. It is a good match.

Anyway, the T provided us both with an overview of the areas that CPT addresses and he told me to be alert on certain weeks for my husband to be more aggravated due to the items he would be focusing on for homework. He's supposed to write out the things that he saw while overseas at one point, so I know this series of sessions is not going to be easy for him. I am just pleased that he has given the T the OK to begin this process with him. It was mentioned early on in the session that the only reason he's agreeing to any of it is because of me and our granddaughter - he cares enough to know that we deserve him at his best.

Wish us luck as we begin our journey. I am, for now, cautiously optimistic.

 

[PhilipH]

CPT has an excellent efficacy record. It's an extremely effective treatment and I certainly hope it leads to significant improvements for your husband.

Let us know how he progresses in therapy.

 

[Eleanor]

Best of luck and good wishes to you, your husband and family.

Question: What is CPT? Is it the same thing as Prolonged Exposure Therapy? (I ask because this also takes approx 12 weeks, the first two of which are intensive...)

 

[LilacFaerie]

Eleanor, it stands for cognitive processing therapy....if i remember what i've read, this comes first (to tackle the soldier's post-deployment way of thinking about things) and then PET. I don't imagine they would be able to handle PET without first addressing the fantasies and realities of post-traumatic thinking. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[anthony]

Question: What is CPT? Is it the same thing as Prolonged Exposure Therapy?

As stated above.

There are lots of names for cognitive therapy. The majority of therapies are cognitive therapy, being they are usually talk or self talk, which targets specific areas of your brain to react.

Exposure therapy is the behavioural component. One without the other is useless for PTSD... but you must start at cognitive first, then you introduce behavioural, which also contains cognitive techniques.

EMDR is a cognitive therapy that uses portions of self exposure, as do all cognitive therapies.

Even a relaxation therapy such as Yoga, contains cognitive components. The moment you have to process something in your mind, its cognitive.