Common elements and differences among treatment approaches to complex
post traumatic stress disorder: A commentary on five case studies
Abstract
Treating people who have experienced deep and prolonged developmental
trauma, i.e., Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (cPTSD), can be
challenging given the complexity and severity of their presentations.
The main features of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, i.e.,
affective and behavioral dysregulation, altered self-experience and
identity disturbances, relational difficulties, negative self-concepts,
and negative pathogenic beliefs, are, at the same time, therapeutic
goals and obstacles to treatment. Therefore, clinicians must be aware of
these difficulties in order to identify them and be ready to treat them
when they arise during therapy with the same client. For this reason,
the clinical cases presented in this issue of the Journal of Clinical
Psychology: In Session provide a very useful overview of how to deal
with these manifestations from the perspective of different models of
psychotherapy. This commentary, after briefly reviewing the clinical
features and therapeutic difficulties of these clients, offers a
critical summary of the commonalities and differences between the
various approaches presented by the clinical cases in this special
issue. The purpose is to help the reader navigate the key aspects of
treating the pathogenetic processes involved in cPTSD and to identify
the different therapeutic tools that may be applicable to the different
clinical presentations.