Clinical Research Directory

SMART-CPT T is a psychotherapy that combines Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Cognitive Symptom Management and Rehabilitation Training (CogSMART) for neurobehavioral and neurocognitive symptoms to simultaneously target persistent postconcussive symptoms and PTSD

CPT is a cognitive behavioral treatment specifically targeting PTSD and other corollary symptoms following traumatic events (Resick \& Schnicke, 1992). Based on a social cognitive theory of PTSD and trauma, CPT focuses on identifying the content of trauma-related thoughts, examining whether these thoughts are consistent or inconsistent with a patient's prior beliefs about the world, and addressing the impact these thoughts have on emotions and behaviors. Patients are taught to recognize and challenge thought patterns such as, assimilation (distorting the memory of the traumatic event to fit prior world beliefs), over-accommodation (excessively altering world beliefs to be consistent with the trauma), or the reinforcement of previously held distorted world beliefs.