PE Therapy Sessions: Overview
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
- The first session of PE explains the rationale for treatment.
- Imaginal exposure begins in session 3.
- In vivo exposure begins after session 2.
- Hotspots begin about session 5 and continue until the final session.
Materials Downloads
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Transcript
In video 2, we're going to have an overview of all of the sessions. I want to give you an overview of what will happen in each of the PE sessions. After this overview, we will review what happens in each session in detail, almost spending a module per session. This is just to give you the broad picture.
Session 1, we recommend taking 2 hours—120 minutes—because there's a lot of material to review. The material includes information gathering about what happened, the trauma, their functioning before and after. We use a trauma interview. You can use that or just your regular interview. Discuss a brief rationale for treatment. Orient the patient to treatment and the number of sessions and teach them 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.
Session 2 and remaining sessions we recommend for 90 minutes, an hour and a half. However, my little trick for myself is if I can schedule 2 hours, I aim for 90 minutes, but in case the patient goes over, I'm not anxious about it because I never like to be late for patients. So if I can schedule in a little buffer after sessions, I recommend that.
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.