Cognitive Processing Therapy
CPT helps you take a closer look at what you've come to believe about yourself because of what happened, so those conclusions don't keep running your life.
If you just want to move on... but instead, you're stuck replaying the past, questioning every decision, and blaming yourself; CPT might be a good fit for you.
What Is Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)?
Sometimes what keeps you stuck after trauma isn't just what happened. It's what you've come to believe about yourself, other people, and the world because it happened.
Maybe you've spent years replaying what happened, trying to figure out what you should have done differently. You keep coming back to the same conclusion: you should have known better. Or maybe you've decided that trusting people is a mistake, so now you find yourself questioning everyone's intentions, even the people closest to you.
And sometimes those conclusions are about who you are as a person. Maybe what happened left you feeling weak, ashamed, or like you've somehow failed to be the man you think you should be.
The thing is, you probably didn't sit down one day and consciously decide to see yourself or the world this way. You were trying to make sense of something difficult, and the explanations you came up with stuck.
That's where Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) comes in.
In CPT, we'll take a closer look at the conclusions you've drawn about what happened. We'll examine what led you to those conclusions, what information you might be overlooking, and whether the way you've been making sense of your experience is actually helping you understand what happened.
This isn't about convincing yourself that something terrible wasn't terrible. It's about making sure you're not continuing to blame yourself, question your worth, or live by conclusions that don't tell the whole story.
And here's something that surprises a lot of people: You don't have to describe every detail of your trauma to do CPT.We can work on how you've made sense of the experience without requiring you to recount everything that happened.
A Closer Look at CPT
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CPT is a structured treatment, which means we're not starting every appointment wondering what we should talk about that day. There's a plan, and each part of the treatment builds on what you've learned in previous sessions.
Early on, we'll figure out what you believe about yourself, other people, and the world because of what happened. In CPT, we call these stuck points. Stuck points are things you say to yourself that make you feel like garbage because of what happened to you.
From there, we'll start examining those stuck points. I'll ask questions, we'll look at the information you're using to support those conclusions, and we'll consider what you might be leaving out.
For example, maybe you've spent years telling yourself, "I should have done something differently." But that's Present You looking back at Past You with information you didn't have at the time. Monday morning quarterbacking, anyone? Part of our work is figuring out what you actually knew, what options were available to you, and what was actually within your control.
Between sessions, you'll use CPT worksheets to practice looking at your stuck points from different angles. We'll go over what you noticed, what was difficult, and what you learned when we meet again.
As treatment progresses, we'll look at how trauma has affected your beliefs in five important areas of your life: safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy. These are often the places where the conclusions you've drawn about what happened start showing up in your relationships, decisions, and everyday life.
The goal isn't for me to tell you what to think. It's for you to learn how to examine your own conclusions so you can decide what actually makes sense.
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Imagine being able to think about what happened without immediately going down the rabbit hole of everything you should have done differently.
Or having an argument with your partner without automatically assuming you're the problem. Maybe you could make a mistake at work without spending the rest of the day beating yourself up over it.
That's the kind of change we're working toward with CPT.
We're not trying to erase what happened or convince you that it wasn't a big deal. We're working on changing how you make sense of it so that the guilt, shame, anger, and self-doubt you've been carrying don't keep showing up in every part of your life.
You can't change what happened. But you can change how much it continues to affect you.
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CPT typically takes about 12 sessions, although some people need fewer and others benefit from additional time.
Throughout treatment, we'll check in on your symptoms and progress so we can see what's changing and where you might still be getting stuck. You'll know what we're working on and why.
And when you've gotten what you need from CPT, we can wrap things up. You don't have to stay in therapy indefinitely.
Of course, finishing CPT doesn't mean you can never come back. If something else comes up that you'd like to work through, that's always an option.
The goal is for you to leave CPT with changes that last beyond our appointments.
Want to compare your options? Learn how CPT, PE, and NET differ in my guide to choosing a trauma treatment.
Wondering If CPT Is Right for You?
You don't have to figure that out on your own.
Maybe some of what you've read sounds familiar, but you're still not sure whether CPT is what you need. That's completely fine.
During a free 20-minute consultation, we can talk about what's been going on, what you'd like to change, and whether CPT makes sense for you. And if another treatment would be a better fit, we can talk about that, too.
You don't need to have all the answers before reaching out.