Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Special Populations: A Cognitive Restructuring Program

People who are the most likely to be traumatized and to develop PTSD are often the least likely to receive treatment. For example, individuals with serious mental illness, substance abuse, or a history of poverty; adolescents; ethnic minorities; and survivors of disasters or mass violence are all more vulnerable to traumatization than those in the general population. This book describes a flexible, low-stress, manualized program for treating PTSD in these individuals, who often have limited social support and resources and face multiple life challenges. The program emphasizes the use of cognitive restructuring to help clients recognize, challenge, and change negative and unhelpful thoughts and feelings related to their past traumatic experiences. The program is brief just 12 16 sessions and focuses on building lasting skills that can be applied to treating the aftereffects of past traumas, lessening the impact of ongoing stressors, and helping clients to more effectively manage their lives. The program is solidly based on research and clinical practice, with modifications to accommodate the unique challenges of special populations. In contrast to exposure-based treatments for PTSD, this treatment is designed to minimize stress and to help participants increase social supports during and following treatment. This accessible volume includes everything needed to implement the program, including session-by-session instructions, sample dialogues to demonstrate techniques, and user-friendly handouts and worksheets that can be photocopied and used in sessions. It will be useful to social workers, primary care providers, mental health counselors, clinical psychologists, addiction treatment providers, psychiatrists, and other helping professionals who interact with special populations and trauma victims.
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