PTSD challenging beliefs 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 are the theories behind this PTSD challenging beliefs worksheet?
This worksheet is based on the Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) which is a specific form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for PTSD which aims to improve symptoms by identifying and changing the thoughts and beliefs associated with the traumatic event.
People with PTSD tend to hold distorted beliefs about themselves and others around them along with a host of negative feelings attached. These are referred to as ‘stuck points’. Challenging these beliefs is one of the techniques used in CPT.
How will the worksheet help?
This worksheet helps clients monitor and challenge their maladaptive beliefs that are the cause of their distress. According to CPT the only way these maladaptive beliefs can be modified is when the client themselves reach the conclusion that they are faulty, baseless and causing them harm.
How to use the worksheet?
This worksheet is used multiple times throughout the CPT sessions to re-evaluate as many problematic ‘stuck points’. In a structured CPT, ‘Challenging Beliefs’ comes after sessions on ‘Challenging Thoughts’, where a client learns a series of challenging questions and ‘Patterns of Problematic Thinking’, where a client learns about some common habitual maladaptive thought patterns.
Instruct the client to use the worksheet for at least one ‘stuck point’ each day.
