Trauma Therapy Personal Reflection Essay

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Trauma Therapy Personal Reflection Essay Grand Canyon University College of Humanities and Behavioral Science PCN-640: Specialization in Counseling Alice Crawford December 20, 2023 1

Trauma Therapy Personal Reflection Essay Trauma is a major life event that every person experiences at some point in their life, either personally or witnessing a family or friend experience the trauma. Either way, dealing with the feelings associated with the trauma is imperative to refrain from deeper suffering on either a physical, emotional, or mental standpoint. As found by van der Kolk (1994), “Intense emotions at the time of the trauma initiate the long-term conditional responses to reminders of the event, which are associated both with chronic altercations in the physiological stress response and with the amnesias and hypermnesia characteristics of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (Abstract). This essay will include discussions of who I am as a counselor in terms of conceptualizing problems and solutions and how this would be reflected in the trauma specialization. Conceptualize Problems and Solutions Upon first signing up for this trauma course, there was some hesitancy, mainly due to personal experiences. The more details learned regarding contents, along with many years of experience in the medical field, and the quote by C.C. Chang, “The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening; no doubt, no awakening”, piqued my interest to gain an increased knowledge for my future career. There have been instances of great confusion as to struggles affiliated with trauma, but understanding what trauma truly is and how we process the event lies in how the brain works after experiencing trauma. This is the main interest with trauma, and learning how to present a client with the material needed to recover from their traumatic incidents with evidence-based treatment, is just the beginning. 2

Research is highly beneficial to every counselor, specifically new ones, and one can never fail when learning additional methods of treatment for various diagnoses. An interesting treatment modality is Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT), which is a form of cognitive- behavioral treatment, specifically for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), developed in the late 1980s and has proven effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD. As found by Asmundson (2021), people receiving CPT posttraumatic events fared significantly better than those receiving another form of treatment (para.22). CPT has shown proven effectiveness for PTSD, with durable advances with both PTSD-specific and non-specific PTSD (para.28). Reflection of Specialization As previously stated, as a counselor, my path to theorizing difficulties and solutions is a mixture of cognitive-behavioral therapy and client-centered therapy, but with CPT being a trauma-focused approach based on CBT, my level of comfortability is more than with another approach, and the effectiveness is highly recommended. According to the American Psychological Association (APA)(2023), treatment begins with psychoeducation of PTSD, like reflections and feelings, becoming more aware of “automatic thoughts” affiliated with the trauma. CPT helps an individual assess the trauma, along with the impact it has manifested in their thoughts. CPT generally consists of twelve sessions, helping the client to dispute and change their useless beliefs concerning the trauma by replacing them with a new conceptualization of the event, reducing the negative impact on the client’s life (para. 1&2). To conclude, facing a traumatic event is devastating enough, but facing the event alone is distressing in and of itself, and can lead to more problems than intended. Finding a counselor 3

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who has specific training or a certification in CPT, can help someone resolve and eventually, overcome their traumatic event. 4

References American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000 Asmundson, G. J. G., Thorisdottir, A. S., Roden-Foreman, J. W., Baird, S. O., Witcraft, S. M., Stein, A. T., Smits, J. A. J., & Powers, M. B. (2019). A meta-analytic review of cognitive processing therapy for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy , 48 (1), 1–14. https://doi- org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/16506073.2018.1522371 van der Kolk BA (1994 Jan-Feb). The body keeps the score: memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harv Rev Psychiatry, 1 (5):253-66. doi:10.3109/10673229409017088. 5

Trauma Therapy Personal Reflection Essay

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