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Home > Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Addressing the Mental Health of Sexually Abused Children > 2. Key Components
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Addressing the Mental Health of Sexually Abused Children
Issue Brief
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Year Published: 2007 |
2. Key Components
TF-CBT is a short-term treatment typically provided in 12 to 18 sessions of 60 to 90 minutes or longer, depending on treatment needs. The intervention is typically provided in outpatient mental health facilities, but it has been used in hospital, group home, school, community, and in-home settings.
The treatment involves individual sessions with the child and parent (or caregiver) separately and joint sessions with the child and parent together. Each individual session is designed to build the therapeutic relationship while providing education, skills, and a safe environment in which to address and process traumatic memories. Joint parent-child sessions are designed to help parents and children practice and use the skills they learned, while also fostering more effective parent-child communication about the abuse and related issues.
Goals
Generally, the goals of TF-CBT are to:
- Reduce children's negative emotional and behavioral responses to the sexual abuse
- Correct maladaptive or unhelpful beliefs and attributions related to the abusive experience (e.g., a belief that the child is responsible for the abuse)
- Provide support and skills to help nonoffending parents cope effectively with their own emotional distress
- Provide nonoffending parents with skills to respond optimally to and support their children
Protocol Components
Components of the TF-CBT protocol can be summarized by the word “PRACTICE”:
- P - Psychoeducation and Parenting skills—Discussion and education about child abuse in general and the typical emotional and behavioral reactions to sexual abuse. Training for parents in child behavior management strategies and effective communication.
- R - Relaxation techniques—Teaching relaxation methods, such as focused breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and thought stopping.
- A - Affective expression and regulation—Helping the child and parent manage their emotional reactions to reminders of the abuse, improve their ability to express emotions, and participate in self-soothing activities.
- C - Cognitive coping and processing—Exploration and correction of inaccurate attributions about the cause of, responsibility for, and results of the abusive experience(s).
- T - Trauma narrative—Gradual exposure exercises, including verbal, written, or symbolic recounting of abusive events.
- I - In vivo exposure—Gradual exposure to nonthreatening trauma reminders in the child's environment (for example, basement, darkness, school), so the child learns to control his or her own emotional reactions.
- C - Conjoint parent/child sessions—Family work to enhance communication and create opportunities for therapeutic discussion regarding the abuse.
- E - Enhancing personal safety and future growth—Education and training on personal safety skills, interpersonal relationships, and healthy sexuality; encouragement in the use of new skills in managing future stressors and trauma reminders.
This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.
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