2015 EST Status: Treatment pending re-evaluation Very strong: High-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms and functional outcomes at post-treatment and follow-up; little risk of harm; requires reasonable amount of resources; effective in non-research settings

Strong: Moderate- to high-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms OR functional outcomes; not a high risk of harm; reasonable use of resources

Weak: Low or very low-quality evidence that treatment produces clinically meaningful effects on symptoms or functional outcomes; Gains from the treatment may not warrant resources involved

Insufficient Evidence: No meta-analytic study could be identified

Insufficient Evidence: Existing meta-analyses are not of sufficient quality

Treatment pending re-evaluation

1998 EST Status: Strong Research Support Strong: Support from two well-designed studies conducted by independent investigators.

Modest: Support from one well-designed study or several adequately designed studies.

Controversial: Conflicting results, or claims regarding mechanisms are unsupported.

Brief Summary

• Basic premise: changing the content of cognitions about a trauma can impact emotional and behavioral responses to the trauma
• Essence of therapy: Cognitive Processing Therapy, or CPT, is a cognitive therapy that focuses initially on the question of why the trauma occurred and then the effects of the trauma on the clients’ beliefs about themselves, others, and the world through the use of progressive worksheets.
• Length: approx. 12 sessions

Treatment Resources

Editors: Denise Sloan, PhD; Alexandra Greenfield, MS

Note: The resources provided below are intended to supplement not replace foundational training in mental health treatment and evidence-based practice

Treatment Manuals / Outlines

Treatment Manuals

• Cognitive Processing Therapy Veteran/Military Version: Therapist’s Manual (Resick, Monson, & Chard, 2014)
  • also available in Spanish, French, Chinese, and Kurdish
  • patient materials also available in French
• Cognitive Processing Therapy Veteran/Military Version: Therapist’s Group Manual (Chard, Resick, Monson, & Kattar, 2013)
• Cognitive Processing Therapy Veteran/Military Version: Therapist and Patient Materials Manual (Resick, Monson, & Chard, 2014)

Training Materials and Workshops

• Free online training with CE credits and video examples of every session
• Please refer to CPTforPTSD.com for workshops, consultation opportunities, and levels of training
• Introductory materials and CE resources through the Veterans Administration’s National Center for PTSD

Measures, Handouts and Worksheets

• PTSD Symptom Scale – Interview for DSM-5 (PSS-I-5); Manual for Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale – Interview for DSM-5 (CPSS-I-5)
• PTSD Symptom Scale – Self-Report for DSM-5 (PSS-SR-5)
• Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale – Interview for DSM-5 (CPSS-I-5); Manual for CPSS-I-5
• Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale – Self-Report for DSM-5 (CPSS-SR-5); Scoring Key for CPSS-SR-5
• Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI); Subscales for PTCI; Scoring key for PTCI
• PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)
• ABC Worksheet
• Challenging Beliefs Worksheet

Smartphone Apps

• CPT Coach app available for free through iTunes
• PTSD Coach app available for free through iTunes

Video Descriptions

• Candace Monson and Kevin Beasley describe CPT (Veterans Health Administration, 2004)

• Informational video for clients available through the National Center for PTSD’s website on CPT

Clinical Trials

• Controlled trial of psychotherapy for Congolese survivors of sexual violence (Bass et al., 2013)
• An evaluation of cognitive processing therapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood sexual abuse (Chard, 2005)
• Dissemination and experience with cognitive processing therapy (Chard et al., 2012)
• Comparing response to cognitive processing therapy in military veterans with subthreshold and threshold posttraumatic stress disorder (Dickstein et al., 2013)
• A multisite randomized controlled effectiveness trial of cognitive processing therapy for military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (Forbes et al., 2012)
• Manualized therapy for PTSD: Flexing the structure of cognitive processing therapy (Galovski et al., 2012)
• Cognitive processing therapy for veterans with comorbid PTSD and alcohol use disorders (Kaysen et al., 2014)
• Identifying patterns of symptom change during a randomized controlled trial of cognitive processing therapy for military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (Macdonald et al., 2011)
• Changes in social adjustment with cognitive processing therapy: Effects of treatment and association with PTSD symptom change (Monson et al., 2012)
• Cognitive processing therapy for veterans with military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (Monson et al., 2006)
• Cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder delivered to rural veterans via telemental health: a randomized noninferiority clinical trial (Morland et al., 2014)
• A randomized clinical control trial to dismantle components of cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in female victims of interpersonal violence (Resick et al., 2008)
• Long-term outcomes of cognitive-behavioral treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder among female rape survivors (Resick et al., 2012)
• Associations between functioning and PTSD symptom clusters in a dismantling trial of cognitive processing therapy in female interpersonal violence survivors (Shnaider et al., 2014)
• A randomized clinical trial of cognitive processing therapy for veterans with PTSD related to military sexual trauma (Suris et al., 2013)
• Long-term functional outcomes of women receiving cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure (Wachen et al., 2014)

Other Treatment Resources

• About Face (a website available through the VA’s National Center for PTSD)