Prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD worksheet
By
HappierTherapy
Author bio
The Happier Therapy editorial team is made up of Masters and PhD counselling psychologists. Each worksheet is created by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The worksheet then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
Download Worksheet
What is the theory behind this Prolonged exposure therapy for ptsd worksheet?
Individuals who went through a traumatic event tend to avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma they experienced. For example, a traumatic event happened in a parking lot will make the victim avoid going to any parking lot or a person getting trauma related nightmares start avoiding sleep altogether.Prolonged exposure is a specific type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that teaches traumatized individuals to approach trauma-related memories, feelings and situations step by step.
How will the worksheet help?
This worksheet will help the clients in facing the situations they usually avoid because of their trauma. By facing the situations, a person can decrease symptoms of PTSD and learn that trauma-related memories and cues are not dangerous.
How to use this worksheet?
Select situations that you are avoiding due to your past traumatic event. Write it down on number 13 of the table. Think of all the other uncomfortable situations that are of lesser intensity before that . Rate each step with the intensity of fear you feel towards it from the SUBJECTIVE UNITS OF DISCOMFORT scale of 0 to 100. After writing them down, start with the situation that causes the least amount of discomfort then move up the table. Give ratings to your feelings after exposure on the given space.
