After a traumatic event, such as a near-death experience or sexual assault, people react in three ways: autobiographical memory (the story you tell yourself about what happened), intrusions (how often the experience pops into your head), and arousal (the emotional and physiological effect of remembering the experience). 

​In normal trauma recovery, people allow themselves to feel their feelings, to correct any inaccurate thoughts about the trauma, and over time, the autobiographical memory becomes a bigger part of the trauma reaction, and intrusions and arousal decrease. 

What goes wrong with PTSD? “In those who don’t recover, strong negative emotions lead to escape and avoidance. The avoidance prevents the processing of the trauma that is needed for recovery, and it works only temporarily.”

​In cognitive processing therapy, we work to combat avoidance and to correct inaccurate thoughts that keep trauma reactions coming back.

Trauma treatment is not easy work, but it is effective if you can stick with it. Your recovery is worth it.