CTC Evidence-Based Trauma Therapies 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In TF-CBT, the PRACTICE acronym helps practitioners remember the treatment components. What does the letter 'A' represent?
- Affective regulation (Correct answer)
- Avoidance reduction
- Attachment strengthening
- Assessment of trauma impact
Correct answer: Affective regulation
In the PRACTICE acronym, 'A' stands for Affective regulation, the skills taught to help children manage difficult emotions associated with trauma.
Question 2: Seeking Safety, an evidence-based treatment for trauma and substance use disorders, is best characterized as which type of intervention?
- Trauma-focused exposure therapy
- Present-focused coping skills therapy (Correct answer)
- Psychodynamic insight-oriented therapy
- Somatic body-based therapy
Correct answer: Present-focused coping skills therapy
Seeking Safety is a present-focused therapy that teaches safe coping skills without requiring trauma exposure or processing of trauma content.
Question 3: The concept of 'titration' in Somatic Experiencing refers to:
- Adjusting medication dosage in conjunction with therapy
- Introducing small, tolerable amounts of traumatic activation to avoid overwhelm (Correct answer)
- Measuring physiological responses during EMDR bilateral stimulation
- Gradually reducing session frequency as the client improves
Correct answer: Introducing small, tolerable amounts of traumatic activation to avoid overwhelm
Titration in SE involves carefully introducing small doses of traumatic material so the nervous system can process it without becoming overwhelmed or retraumatized.
Question 4: Which trauma therapy is most explicitly grounded in Bowlby's attachment theory and focuses on restructuring the parent-child attachment bond?
- Prolonged Exposure (PE)
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
- Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) (Correct answer)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Correct answer: Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
CPP is explicitly rooted in attachment theory, using the caregiver-child relationship as the central mechanism of therapeutic change.
Question 5: In Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), the 'lifeline' technique serves what primary purpose?
- Measuring the client's progress toward recovery over time
- Creating a chronological narrative of the client's entire life including traumatic and positive events (Correct answer)
- Identifying safe people in the client's support network
- Mapping physiological arousal patterns during session
Correct answer: Creating a chronological narrative of the client's entire life including traumatic and positive events
The lifeline is a tangible timeline where clients place flowers (positive events) and stones (traumatic events) to construct a chronological life narrative.
Question 6: A trauma therapist asks a child to give a 'brave rating' to situations on a fear ladder before beginning exposure work. This procedure is adapted from which therapeutic tradition?
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with systematic desensitization (Correct answer)
- Somatic Experiencing (SE)
- Psychodynamic play therapy
Correct answer: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with systematic desensitization
The fear ladder with subjective distress ratings is a classic CBT tool derived from Wolpe's systematic desensitization, adapted for use with children.
Question 7: According to the research base for TF-CBT, which caregiver component has been found to be particularly critical to treatment outcomes for children?
- Caregiver attendance at every child session
- Caregiver's own processing of distress and development of coping skills (Correct answer)
- Caregiver agreement to avoid discussing the trauma at home
- Caregiver completion of a formal trauma assessment tool
Correct answer: Caregiver's own processing of distress and development of coping skills
Research shows that when caregivers process their own emotional distress and learn parallel coping skills, child outcomes in TF-CBT are significantly improved.
CTC Evidence-Based Trauma Therapies 3
In TF-CBT, the PRACTICE acronym helps practitioners remember the treatment components.
What does the letter 'A' represent?