CBT for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Children and Teens (TF-CBT)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a research-backed treatment for children and adults with traumatic stress.

CBT involves learning how thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are linked:

Unfortunately, children and teens can experience traumas such as physical or sexual abuse, car accidents, or witnessing someone being injured. Children are very resilient and may not develop a disorder at all after undergoing such an experience. Some kids and teens may experience depression or behavior problems after coping with a trauma. Others might develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which could involve intrusive memories or nightmares of the trauma, avoidance of trauma reminders, strong body-based reactions to the experience, and other emotional and behavioral symptoms.

Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) is a treatment for youth who are experiencing symptoms of traumatic stress that are negatively impacting their day-to-day, school, home, or social functioning. Treatment involves telling the story of what happened to take back charge of the narrative, learning positive coping skills for strong emotions and body sensations, and tackling avoidance that is no longer necessary because the child is now safe. Parents have some sessions by themselves to help them navigate a situation that is usually also very upsetting to them and they are involved in key sessions with the child to understand what they are learning.

As a therapist, I love helping kids and teens learn they are stronger than they realize and they can handle whatever happens in life, even if it is something no one would ever choose for them.