Tameka Foster
Hello Tameka,
Thank you for your informative, comprehensive post this week. The clinical uptake of effective psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) lags what we know about their efficacy. Exposure therapy is one of the best-validated interventions for PTSD. Common elements of exposure-based treatments for PTSD include breathing retraining, psychoeducation regarding the nature of PTSD and related symptoms, in vivo exposure, and imaginal exposure and processing (Wheeler, 2014). Therapies that include these elements have a variety of specific names such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, prolonged exposure, and cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD.
Exposure therapy, also referred to as flooding, imaginal, in vivo, prolonged, or directed exposure is a well-established treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that requires the patient to focus on and describe the details of a traumatic experience in a therapeutic manner. Exposure methods share the common feature of confrontation with frightening, yet realistically safe, stimuli that continues until the anxiety is reduced. The rationale for exposure therapy is that by continuing to expose oneself to a safe, yet frightening, stimulus, anxiety diminishes, leading to a decrease in escape and avoidance behavior that was maintained via negative reinforcement (Zoellner et al., 2011)
Exposure therapy is a type of therapy that may help you decrease distress about your trauma. This therapy works by helping you approach trauma-related thoughts, feelings, and situations that you have avoided due to the distress they cause. Repeated exposure to these thoughts, feelings, and situations helps reduce the power they have to cause distress (Wheeler, 2014).
References
Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Zoellner, L. A., Feeny, N. C., Bittinger, J. N., Bedard-Gilligan, M. A., Slagle, D. M., Post, L. M., & Chen, J. A. (2011). Teaching Trauma-Focused Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Critical Clinical Lessons for Novice Exposure Therapists. Psychological trauma: theory, research, practice and policy, 3(3), 300–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024642