How CPT Can Help Individuals with PTSD in the Justice System
By Janeth Nuñez del Prado, LCSW at Max Pines Law
As a therapist, I’ve witnessed how trauma can profoundly impair an individual’s thinking, emotions, behaviors, and relationships. This is true for both people whose civil rights have been violated and for those who are currently dealing with the criminal justice system: trauma compounds existing challenges, making recovery even more difficult. For so many, the trauma feels ongoing and impossible to escape. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) offers a structured, evidence-based approach to healing that is particularly suited to addressing the unique needs of these individuals. To read about two other types of PTSD treatments click here: How can you treat trauma and PTSD? – Max Pines Law
Understanding the Impact of Trauma
Trauma can leave individuals feeling stuck in patterns of fear, guilt, or emotional reactivity. For our clients, these feelings may be intensified by systemic injustices or ongoing engagement in adversarial processes. PTSD symptoms such as hypervigilance, avoidance behaviors, and negative self-perceptions make it difficult to trust others or advocate for oneself effectively. These challenges can perpetuate cycles of re-traumatization or reduce their ability to navigate complicated legal processes. Ultimately, success in these cases require a person to collaborate effectively with their lawyer and participate in their case. But overwhelming and often misplaced feelings of anger, shame, or guilt may make communicating with their lawyers and telling their stories very difficult. For these reasons, it is a core duty of an effective lawyer to get their client on the path to wellness and healing. As we have learned working with our clients with PTSD facing these tough cases, CPT is a great and effective treatment modality.
What is CPT?
CPT is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) designed to help individuals process their trauma and reframe “maladaptive” or harmful beliefs. A client will work with their therapist one-on-one, developing a strong, supportive therapeutic relationship of trust and understanding. The therapy last 12 weeks and involves:
- Psychoeducation: Clients learn about PTSD, how thoughts influence emotions and behaviors, and how their current coping strategies may be preventing them from healing.
- Identifying Stuck Points: Stuck points are harmful beliefs about the trauma, themselves, or the world that are keeping clients “stuck” in the process of recovery. It may be beliefs such as “I deserved what happened to me” or “No one can be trusted.”
- The work extends outside of the office: Through warm and collaborative conversations during sessions with the therapist and written home practice assignments, the client examines those beliefs and comes up with alternative and more balanced ways of thinking.
- Becoming their own therapists: Clients learn the tools to manage distressing thoughts and emotions independently, outside of therapy and will soon be able to “become their own therapists” and apply what they have learned in CPT to any other issue they are having in their lives, long after treatment has ended.
Research shows that Cognitive Processing Therapy is highly effective at curing PTSD.
Why is CPT particularly effective for Justice-Involved Individuals?
- Addressing Guilt and Shame. Many justice-involved individuals carry guilt or self-blame regarding the trauma. The adversarial and confrontational process of the court exacerbates these issues. Litigation can be an ugly, and hard fight. CPT will give them the tools they need to survive and stand up for their rights.
- Empowering Self Advocacy. CPT is not a passive approach. Clients are active partners with the therapist and by experiencing success in changing their negative beliefs about themselves and the world and reducing their symptoms, they gain confidence and a sense of self-efficacy to navigate complex systems or processes like depositions or testifying.
- Reducing Recidivism. Evidence-based treatments like CPT are likely to reduce the risk of continued involvement in the criminal justice system by addressing the causes and conditions (i.e., untreated trauma) which led to their engagement in criminal activity.
- Flexibility Across Contexts and Populations. CPT is a culturally sensitive approach and has shown to be effective in many different populations, such people with complex PTSD, as well as people living in high conflict zones such as prisons, making it particularly useful for justice-involved populations.
A Path Toward Healing
For individuals with PTSD who are entangled in the criminal justice system, for people recovering from the injustice of a civil rights violation, or for people who through no fault of their own suffer a grave injury due to the negligence of another, CPT offers more than temporary symptom relief—it provides a pathway towards radical and lasting healing. They can put the past in its rightful place – the past. One can reclaim their lives and live a life full of meaning, joy, and social connection.
If you or someone you know is struggling with trauma in these contexts, consider exploring CPT as a step toward healing.
Resources: The following are rostered CPT providers:
https://cptforptsd.com/cpt-provider-roster/
