PE for PTSD Session 1: Outline and Timing
Associate Vice-Chair of Clinical Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine
Director, Emory Healthcare Veterans Program
Director, Emory Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program
Paul A. Janssen Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology
Key Points
- In session 1, explain the rationale for exposure therapy.
- At the end of session 1 we teach a breathing technique.
- Breathing retraining is used when exposure is not feasible.
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Transcript
In video 3, we're going to continue talking about session 1, PE for PTSD.
As a reminder, in session 1, we recommend allotting 120 minutes, 2 hours. We will gather information usually with a standardized trauma interview, present a brief rationale for treatment, orient the patient to PE and the number of sessions and the schedule, and teach breathing retraining.
Foa, E., Hembree, E. A., Rothbaum, B. O., & Rauch, S. (2019). Prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD: Emotional processing of traumatic experiences - Therapist guide (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, USA.,Rothbaum, Foa, Hembree, & Rauch (2019). Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience: Client workbook, 2nd edition. New York. Oxford University Press, USA.
I'll go into much more detail giving you the outline and the approximate times of activities in session 1. Obviously, this is going to change depending on your conversation with the patient—how much they talk—but these are just approximate times. Presenting an overview of the program often takes about 25 to 30 minutes. We really want to make sure that the patient understands what we're doing for a full informed consent, but also so they can make the right decisions in their real life when something comes up. We want to discuss the treatment procedures that will be used in the program, explain the focus of the program is on PTSD symptoms, collecting information relevant to the trauma. So this is where we might use the standardized trauma interview and that often takes about 45 minutes. We'll introduce the breathing retraining and that takes about 10 to 15 minutes, and assigning homework by the end of the session, which often takes about 5 minutes.
Foa, E., Hembree, E. A., Rothbaum, B. O., & Rauch, S. (2019). Prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD: Emotional processing of traumatic experiences - Therapist guide (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, USA.,Rothbaum, Foa, Hembree, & Rauch (2019). Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience: Client workbook, 2nd edition. New York. Oxford University Press, USA.