Prolonged Exposure Therapy 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.
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What is the theory behind this Prolonged Exposure Therapy Worksheet?
Prolonged Exposure Therapy is an intervention used in Cognitive Behavioral therapy to gradually expose individuals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to their trauma related cues so they gradually learn to stop reacting to them. Avoidance of these cues increases their fear and maintains their PTSD. When they gradually confront them, they realise that these cues no longer represent the presence of any threat like in the past.
How will the worksheet help?
The worksheet will help clients with PTSD to practise imaginal exposure of their trauma memories at home. It will help them record their distress levels using the Subjective Unit of Distress Scale (SUDS) after repeatedly listening to the audio recording of their own vivid narration of the traumatic event as recorded in therapy sessions. .
How to use the worksheet?
This Imaginal Exposure Homework worksheet is to be used at least once daily along with in-vivo exposure homework assignments. Instruct the client to rate their SUDS levels as indicated in the worksheet after listening to their audio recording. Remind them to use breathing exercises when it gets too overwhelming.
