Session 8: Safety Issues
Please read the Trust Module and think about your beliefs before experiencing event and how the event changed or reinforced those beliefs. Use the Challenging Beliefs Worksheets to continue analyzing your stuck points. Focus some attention on issues of self or other trust, as well as safety, if these remain important stuck points for you.
Trust Module Below in Red
Directly From
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Veteran/Military Version:
THERAPIST AND PATIENT
MATERIALS MANUAL
Patricia A. Resick, Ph.D. and Candice M. Monson, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division
VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University
&
Kathleen M. Chard, Ph.D.
Cincinnati VA Medical Center and University of Cincinnati
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Please read the Trust Module and think about your beliefs before experiencing event and how the event changed or reinforced those beliefs. Use the Challenging Beliefs Worksheets to continue analyzing your stuck points. Focus some attention on issues of self or other trust, as well as safety, if these remain important stuck points for you.
Trust Module Below in Red
Directly From
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Veteran/Military Version:
THERAPIST AND PATIENT
MATERIALS MANUAL
Patricia A. Resick, Ph.D. and Candice M. Monson, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division
VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University
&
Kathleen M. Chard, Ph.D.
Cincinnati VA Medical Center and University of Cincinnati
BELIEFS RELATED TO SELF: The belief that one can trust or rely on one’s own perceptions or judgments. This belief is an important part of self-concept and serves an important self-protection function.
Prior Experience
Negative
If you had prior experiences where you were blamed for negative events, you may develop negative beliefs about your ability to make decisions or judgments about situations or people. The traumatic event serves to confirm these beliefs.
Positive
If you had prior experiences that led you to believe that you had great judgment, the traumatic event may disrupt this belief.
Symptoms Associated With Negative Self-Trust Beliefs
Feelings of self-betrayal
Anxiety
Confusion
Overcaution
Inability to make decisions
Self-doubt and excessive self-criticism
Beliefs Related to OTHERS: Trust is the belief that the promises of other people or groups can be relied on with regard to future behavior. One of the earliest tasks of childhood development is trust versus mistrust. A person needs to learn a healthy balance of trust and mistrust and when each is appropriate.
Prior Experience
Negative
If you were betrayed in early life, you may have developed the generalized belief that “no one can be trusted.” The traumatic event serves to confirm this belief, especially if you were hurt by an acquaintance.
Positive
If you had particularly good experiences growing up, you may have developed the belief that “All people can be trusted.” The traumatic event shatters this belief.
Posttraumatic Event Experience
If the people you knew and trusted were blaming, distant, or unsupportive after the traumatic event, your belief in their trustworthiness may have been shattered.
Symptoms Associated With Negative Others-Trust Beliefs
Pervasive sense of disillusionment and disappointment in others
Fear of betrayal or abandonment
Anger and rage at betrayers
If repeatedly betrayed, negative beliefs may become so rigid that even people who are trustworthy may be viewed with suspicion
Fear of close relationships, particularly when trust is beginning to develop, active anxiety and fear of being betrayed
Fleeing from relationships
