Cognitive Processing Therapy: How a Veteran Discovered New Perspectives After Completing a 12-Week Program

Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator, Courtney Bell, is a therapist in the PCT Clinic which is in the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team.

The clinic offers Evidence Based Therapies to treat PTSD. We provide therapy to individuals who have PTSD related to combat, military and/or Military Sexual Trauma.

Courtney interviewed a Military Sexual Trauma Survivor who recently completed a 12- week, weekly therapy called Cognitive Processing Therapy, also known as CPT.

What is Cognitive Processing Therapy and How Does it Work?

CPT is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that has been effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD. CPT is generally delivered over 12 sessions and helps patients learn how to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma. In doing so, the patient creates a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event so that it reduces its ongoing negative effects on their current life.

Veteran's First-Hand Experience of CPT After 12 Weeks of Treatment

Courtney provides us with an interview she had with a Veteran about their experience with engaging in CPT to address her PTSD related to Military Sexual Trauma.

“I want to thank her for the courage that she has to go through an interview. I have personally watched this specific Veteran’s life change in so many positive ways. I have watched happiness resurface in her life” shares Courtney.

Courtney’s hope is that other Veteran’s will hear this Veterans testimony and reach out for help like they did. 

Question: What problems/symptoms you were experiencing due to your trauma that led you to therapy?

I was almost completely intolerant of other people. I was paranoid and painfully hypervigilant because your head isn't on a three-hundred and sixty degree swivel so you can't see, hear, smell all at all times. Trying to do so to keep myself safe and actually accomplish what I was out to do, like simple grocery shopping led to complete system overwhelm. Major anxiety before, during and after any event, with panic attacks, disordered eating, and sleep disturbances of all kinds; and depending on how the event went, sometimes avoidant behaviors from hours up to three days after. 

I had an all-encompassing sense of existential dread. Inevitably something would go wrong; Who? What? When? Where? How? Oh my God! What then? It was like the very ground I stood upon was never quite steady and stable. None of these things are fun to live with individually, but when they started building up like Lincoln Logs and I realized I'd built a "Mansion of Dread" in my mind where I was going to live out the rest of my days...I had to make a change. I needed a map and compass. Enter CPT and Courtney.

Question: What was your experience going through therapy?

Therapy was freeing, enlightening, painful, and scary at times, but bit by bit, the barriers to freedom and getting back to myself started to get smaller. When it was painful it helped to remember that it was old pain, unrealized and unprocessed. I could stop therapy when it got hard, but that wouldn't stop the pain from stalking me forever and soldiers are no strangers to courage and stamina. I began to feel lighter in mood, attitude and heart. My center of gravity was shifting from my trauma to me. I could suddenly see and recognize myself. "Hello, old friend. I've missed you!"

Question: How has your life changed due to therapy?

My life took a deep breath and calmed down. Repeating the worksheets got tedious but the process stuck and has become more of an automatic checklist now. I've stopped catastrophizing every situation. I've learned how to assertively communicate boundaries and that trust isn't a black/white, yes/no thing. These changed my life!

I recognize now how much society gaslights survivors. There is more than enough victim blaming/shaming out there. I never blame anyone else, but because of those external voices, I felt like I must have done something wrong, even if it was just trusting the wrong people. The fact is that my trust wasn't misplaced, it was abused by them. Shame on them; not on me, or you.

Question: What did your therapist do to help?

Her guidance was my map and her cheers over every success were my fuel. I sure feel like a winner now! She guided me through some pretty rough waters with such compassion and she was the coolest cheerleader of all-time! I needed these so much. She told me I was worthy of self-compassion when nobody's ever said that before. I had never realized how toxic my self-talk was. That alone was life altering for me. She helped me realize there was a better life waiting for me if I stuck with her for just a little while. I can't say enough about my therapist who literally changed my life and what my future looks like. 

Question: What did you do to help yourself?

I did the work. With Courtney's help I identified my problematic thoughts and patterns, and worked every day to shift those. I reminded myself that a shift is a change and will lead to more positive shifts in thoughts and changes in behavior. Baby steps may be frustrating, but they accumulate!

I also did some basic trauma research to identify some things because it's hard to articulate when I didn't really have a vocabulary for it. I opened up to a good friend and this helped me feel a lot less alone in this whole process as well. The number one thing I did was not quit, and keep working on it.