BEHAVIORAL-COGNITIVE INHIBITION THERAPY FOR POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based upon material published in the International Journal of Applied Psychology and is available as an open access article. A first outline of a new cognitive-behavior therapy program for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is presented with regards to its underlying theories and treatment components. It is based on the behavioral-cognitive inhibition (BCI) theory for PTSD (Paunović, 2010) and is named Behavioral-cognitive inhibition (BCI) therapy. The treatment program is presented descriptively session by session. The program rests on the following main blocks: (1) overview of the whole treatment program and normalization of PTSD symptoms in terms of the BCI- theory, (2) the development of narrative stories of valued life event memories, (3) emotional processing of valued life event memories, (4) cognitive processing of dysfunctional trauma-, pre-trauma and posttrauma beliefs central in the maintenance of PTSD, (5) exposure inhibition that consists of (i) emotional processing of valued life event memories, (ii) a single imaginal exposure to central trauma memory details, and (iii) repeating the emotional processing of valued life event memories, and (7) identifying current most valued life areas and utilizing valued narrative stories, emotional processing of valued life event memories and behavioral activation in valued directions. This course on Behavioral-Cognitive Inhibition therapy is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their understanding of posttraumatic stress treatment. The course material includes a brief literature review. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article which includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A major benefit of reading research based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field.