Changing Beliefs about Trauma: A Qualitative Study of Cognitive Processing Therapy.

Background: Controlled qualitative methods complement quantitative treatment outcome research and enable a more thorough understanding of the effects of therapy and the suspected mechanisms of action.

Aims: Thematic analyses were used to examine outcomes of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a randomized controlled trial of individuals diagnosed with military-related PTSD (n = 15).

Method: After sessions 1 and 11, participants wrote "impact statements" describing their appraisals of their trauma and beliefs potentially impacted by traumatic events. Trained raters coded each of these statements using a thematic coding scheme.

Results: An analysis of thematic coding revealed positive changes over the course of therapy in participants' perspective on their trauma and their future, supporting the purported mechanisms of CPT.

Conclusion: Implications of this research for theory and clinical practice are discussed.