You Want Me to do What?!- Written Exposure Therapy Explained.

One of the short-term therapy options our Therapist’s use is called Written Exposure Therapy (WET) and it is designed to treat symptoms of PTSD or trauma. Sloan and Marx (2019) discussed how WET is equally as effective as longer trauma treatments such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PT), but it is more accessible due to its compact nature. This trauma focused psychotherapy is delivered across five psychotherapy sessions, and it can be delivered both virtually and in person at our clinic in Barrie, Ontario.

Words like “exposure” and “written” can be quite daunting and fear inducing but we assure you this psychotherapy method is not as scary as it sounds. Here’s why- Exposure therapy works by using the principles of habituation. Rankin, Abrams, Barry, et al. (2009), described habituation as a progressive decrease in behavioural response that results from repeated stimulation to the feared stimuli. Thus, every time you are exposed to the fear inducing situation, in a controlled therapeutic setting, your fear associated with that situation progressively, naturally, decreases across the five psychotherapy sessions and the way we access this feared situation is through writing. What most people notice is, their worries around writing become less daunting once the protocol is implemented. This is because habituation starts to do what it does.

As with all recommended treatment plans, your therapist will begin with an initial assessment and develop a treatment plan. After this phase, you can expect to engage in the WET protocol and then complete a final psychotherapy session to close treatment, unless another goal is identified. That’s it! So, if you have symptoms of trauma consider written exposure therapy for treatment. If you have further questions, book a free consultation with us!

 

References:

Rankin CH, Abrams T, Barry RJ, Bhatnagar S, Clayton DF, Colombo J, Coppola G, Geyer MA, Glanzman DL, Marsland S, McSweeney FK, Wilson DA, Wu CF, Thompson RF. (2009). Habituation revisited: an updated and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation. Neurobiol Learn Mem.Sep;92(2):135-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2008.09.012.

Sloan, D., & Marx, B. (2019). Written exposure therapy for ptsd. American Psychological Association.