Guide to CPT Sessions

Prior to each session:

  1. Focusing on the index trauma, please take and score the PCL-5: Weekly (Handout 3.1).
  2. Please take and score the PHQ-9 (Handout 3.2)
  3. Please be ready to answer the questions in the Check-In/Check-Out Sheet.
  4. Please update your PCL-5 Score Sheet (Handout 3.1 p. 7 of 7) and prepare to display it to discuss.
  5. To “begin with the end in mind” and orient our work during the session, please turn to the homework assignment that will conclude the current session.

Prior to Session 1, please create a trauma timeline and determine the index trauma. Here is a handout that may be helpful.

Prior to Session 1 or 2, depending upon timing, please write an impact statement (Handout 5.3). The handout below may be helpful as you begin to jot down notes, organize your thoughts, and consider areas of your life affected by thoughts and beliefs about the index trauma.

Prior to Session 2, please describe the index trauma briefly and factually, as if you were giving testimony in a court case. Please copy this text into the check-out statement email you create at the end of Session 2.

Prior to Session 2, please begin to compile a Stuck Point Log (Handout 6.1).

A “Stuck Point” is the CPT term for what is termed in cognitive theory a “cognitive distortion.” From page 95: “A Stuck Point is a thought that you probably formed during or shortly after the trauma about why the trauma happened or what it means about yourself, others, and the world. It serves to keep you stuck in place and stops your recovery and growth.”

Here are helpful readings about Stuck Points and cognitive distortions:

During Session 2, the ABC Worksheet is introduced (Handout 6.3).

  • Under “Consequence / C / “I feel something,” to foster deeper awareness of your feelings, you are invited to subdivide that box with a horizontal line, label the top box “Primary feelings” (natural human feelings that occur without thought) and the bottom box “Secondary feelings” (feelings that result from thoughts).

Please spend a minimum of 30 minutes per day on CPT homework assignments and/or reading and/or training.

Here is our in-house Expanded ABC Worksheet.

Here is our in-house CPT guide page which includes a glossary.

Here is our main CPT page which includes links to self-guided training.

Last updated 8/22/20

This page is intended for clients’ use only. This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or professional advice. Consult a qualified health care professional for personalized medical and professional advice.