Creative Hopelessness and PTSD: Between-Session Homework Assignments
Booz Allen
Department of Veterans Affairs
Yale University
University of Nevada, Reno
Key Points
- There are a wide variety of between-session assignments for recognizing the role of internal control as the problem.
- The therapist may focus on an exercise that facilitates mindful awareness of control strategies without asking the client to change any behavior.
- The therapist could invite the client to reflect on places where they received messages about the need for emotional control.
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Transcript
So, there are several different tasks that you can provide to your client for homework while working on identifying the problem of internal control depending either on what resonated the most with your client or where you think that having them place additional awareness after the session might be the most productive.
One possibility for after-session reflection is to ask the person to write down their thoughts in response to the following 3 questions, preferably giving 2 or 3 answers to each of these questions related to messages received throughout their life that may have taught the client that negative emotions were problematic and shouldn’t be expressed. These messages may have come from adults in the client’s life, or from siblings or schoolmates, teachers, religious leaders, or TV, movies, or even other sources of popular culture influence.
Follette, V. M., & Pistorello, J. (2007). Finding life beyond trauma: Using acceptance and commitment therapy to heal from post-traumatic stress and trauma-related problems. New Harbinger Publications.
So, you could have a piece of paper prepopulated with the following 3 prompts and then space to write under each one. Messages that imply that negative emotions and thoughts are bad. Messages that imply that others either don’t feel these emotions and thoughts, or if they do, that they can get rid of them. Where have you received these messages as an adult?
Follette, V. M., & Pistorello, J. (2007). Finding life beyond trauma: Using acceptance and commitment therapy to heal from post-traumatic stress and trauma-related problems. New Harbinger Publications.