Compare and contrast CBT and psychodynamic approaches to...

Compare and contrast CBT and psychodynamic approaches to counselling focusing particularly on trauma and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder): Theory and therapy. When working with clients in today’s society it’s extremely important to take into consideration the specific needs of each individual. Serious contemplation is given to the approaches and methods regarding the client’s need and presenting matters. Trauma appears in many forms in society, even from the 1960’s due to the impact on returning soldiers from war. Since this, trauma has been categorised and widely researched leading to numerous theories. Psychotherapies were one of the first approaches to be founded in the 1970’s, which were the foundations to counselling†¦show more content†¦This treatment approach is based on cognitive and learning theories, tackling-misleading beliefs related to the traumatic events of acknowledgments related to the abuse and provides a supportive environment of which individuals are encouraged to talk about their traumatic experience. A numerous amount of research has been carried out to investigate into how effective CBT really can be for PTSD. (Resick et al, 2002) carried out an investigation comparing CBT with strong cognitive restructuring focus and CBT with a strong exposure focus and to a waiting-list control of rape survivors. Prior to this experiment approximately 80% of patients who completed either form of CBT no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Once this investigation was complete a follow up treatment took place of which it was noted 2% of the waiting list group had lost the PTSD diagnoses. Only a year after this investigation Bryant, Moulds, Guthrie, Dang Nixon, (2003) restructured the experiment comparing exposure alone, exposure plus cognitive restructuring, and supportive counselling in civilians with PTSD resulting from various traumatic events. At this particular follow up 65-80% of participants who either completed either form of CBT were now clear of PTSD diagnosis, compared to less than 40% of those who completed supportive counselling.