Contrasting Exposure and Experiential Therapies for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

MFT / LCSW

2.00 - CE credit hours training

$12.00 - Cost of course

This page contains important information about the course, including training details, a comprehensive course description, learning objectives, and source references. We encourage you to review each section to gain a clear understanding of the course content, educational goals, and supporting materials before beginning your training and taking the POST TEST below.

Target audience and instructional level of this course: foundational
There is no known conflict of interest or commercial support related to this CE program.

Contrasting Exposure and Experiential Therapies for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Course Training

Follow the link below, read the material and then take the 18 question post test

Read the Course Material:
Contrasting Exposure and Experiential Therapies for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Post Test

18 Questions

1. From "Introduction" The authors report that there is empirical evidence that complex PTSD is a distinct diagnostic construct from PTSD.

a. True b. False

2. From "Introduction" The authors posit that clients who suffer from complex PTSD require treatment that goes beyond a singular focus on fear to also address: grief, rage, helplessness, and unbearable aloneness.

a. grief, distancing, helplessness, and self-loathing. b. grief, rage, helplessness, and unbearable aloneness. c. self-loathing, rage, unbearable loneliness, and helplessness. d. grief, helplessness, splitting, idealizing, rage.

3. From "Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Theoretical Underpinnings and Clinical Models" The authors present three primary theories of prolonged exposure for PTSD. They are:

a. Mindfulness; avoidance; behavioral b. Psychoanalytic; behavioral; interpersonal c. Classical conditioning; operant conditioning; cognitive d. Two factor; information processing; narrative reconstruction

4. From "Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Clinical Applications and Interventions" Three therapeutic tactics of PE are described that are intended to help clients cope with the distress of exposure. Which is NOT one of the three?

a. Controlled breathing techniques b. Reassuring self-talk c. Refocusing on incompatible positive experiences. d. Clients continue to describe immediate sensory awareness

5. From "Challenges for PE as a therapy for Complex PTSD" Which are cited as limitations of PE as a therapy for complex PTSD?

a. Minimal use of PE by real world clinicians b. High dropout rates c. The length of PE therapy d. A and B e. All of the above

6. From "Challenges for PE as a therapy for Complex PTSD" PE and Cognitive Processing Therapy have been found to not be as effective at reducing which symptom in complex PTSD?

a. Dissociation b. Impaired self-reference c. Difficulties with arousal regulation d. Avoidance

7. From "AEDP for Complex PTSD" Has AEDP been validated in clinical trials?

a. True b. False

8. From "Dyadic Affect Regulation to Engender Secure Attachment and Regulate Emotions" Because many clients with complex PTSD experience unbearable states of aloneness, a primary aim in AEDP is having the client not be alone with intense emotional experience.

a. True b. False

9. From "Attachment-based Strategies" Amongst the experiential therapies, AEDP has a unique focus. That focus is:

a. Careful attention to the patient's receptive affective experiences b. The client's responses to relational aspects of the previous trauma c. Closely observing the client's distress in response to exposure d. On providing feedback to the client about normal reactions to traumatic experiences

10. From "Emotion Processing in AEDP" AEDP's fundamental goal is to help the client process adaptive emotions to completion. From the AEDP perspective, what are the three states clients are guided through?

a. Negative emotion, neutral emotion, positive emotion b. Disorganized, neutral, organized c. Symptoms, stress, and distress; core affect; core state d. Destructive emotions, adaptive emotions, transformed emotions

11. From "Emotion Processing in AEDP" In AEDP accessing positive aspects of emotion marks the end of emotion processing.

a. True b. False

12. From "Integrative Comparison of AEDP and PE" Exposure techniques are inherently embedded within AEDP. Exposure occurs through:

a. Deep engagement with avoided emotional and relational experiences b. Experiential confrontations of past perpetrators c. Encounters with disowned aspects of the self d. All of the above e. None of the above

13. From "Fear and Anxiety" AEDP posits that ______________ is essential for the moment-to-moment regulation of intense emotion, and all the more so when intense fear is the issue.

a. Restructuring of emotional memory templates b. Positive self-worth c. A secure attachment relationship d. Acceptance of emotion

14. From "Emotion Regulation" Both PE and AEDP operate on the premise that adequate emotional engagement with feared memories must take place. The authors point one way that PE and AEDP differ regarding such emotion regulation.

a. In PE clients are taught cognitive strategies to cope with overwhelming affect b. In PE there appears to be no specialized interventions for facilitating adequate emotional engagement with feared memories c. In AEDP dissociation is not strived for d. In PE clients are encouraged to stop exposure when emotion reaches a certain threshold.

15. From "Emotion Regulation" The authors put forth that a weakness of PE for complex PTSD is that successful PE is predicated on clients having many skills and capacities that complex PTSD clients generally do not possess.

a. True b. False

16. From "Dissociation" PE presumes _______________________ , which is not the case with many trauma survivors, particularly those who exhibit dissociative symptoms.

a. Organized narratives of traumatic experiences b. Access to traumatic memories and affect upon demand c. Capacity to label affect d. A willingness to engage in long-term therapy

17. From "Implications for Clinical Practice" The authors cite that the way PE frames the therapeutic task can be advantageous. What advantage(s) is/are cited?

a. Its tight focus on engaging circumscribed traumatic memories can be containing for some b. Its tight focus on engaging circumscribed traumatic memories can be reassuring for some c. It is efficient and readily understood d. A and B e. All of the above

18. From "Implications for Clinical Practice" Therapy approaches integrating AEDP and PE:

a. Have not been tested empirically as yet b. Have been demonstrated to improve client's healthy attachment but not to reduce PTSD symptoms c. Have shown mixed results in reducing PTSD symptoms

Course Description

Learn more about the contrasts between exposure and experiential therapies for complex posttraumatic stress disorder with this course. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a syndrome that results from exposure to real or threatened death, serious injury or sexual assault. Following a traumatic event, PTSD is common and is one of the serious health concerns associated with comorbidity functional impairment and increased mortality with suicidal ideations and attempts. Symptoms include intrusive thoughts, re-experiencing the traumatic event and dissociation, among others. The evidence for worldwide prevalence of PTSD suggests that approximately 3.9 % of the general population is concerned. In people known to have been exposed to trauma, the rate is 5.6% (Neuroscience Research Australia, 2021).

This course compares and contrasts two psychotherapy approaches for the treatment of complex PTSD: a behavioral therapy (namely Prolonged Exposure; PE) and an experiential therapy (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy; AEDP). The efficacy and effectiveness evidence for both therapies is addressed. The course looks at how experience processes are ingrained in PE and how they affect its results. The authors also explain how AEDP addresses several clinical and relational factors that are negative prognostic factors for PE. Finally, suggestions are made for experientially-informed PE for complex cases of PTSD.

Learning Objectives

Compare and contrast prolonged exposure and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy for the treatment of complex PTSD.
Summarize the efficacy, effectiveness, and negative prognostic factors for the two approaches.
Describe elements of experientially-informed prolonged exposure.

Source

Click Here Psychotherapy: Training, Research, Theory, Practice (2008); Kari Gleiser, Julian Ford, Diana Fosha

MFT / LCSW