Cognitive Processing Therapy in Syrian Women Exposed to IPV

The CPT therapist will teach the patient about PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and outline the treatment regimen and rationale for its effectiveness. In the initial sessions, women will be asked to express their impact statements on the intimate partner violence to which they had been subjected. Women will be taught how to differentiate between events, thoughts, and emotions, as well as their interrelationships. Thoughts of self-blame and other misconceptions of the situation will be addressed using Socratic questioning. Women will be instructed on how to detect and counteract negative thoughts, as well as how to communicate more effectively. Women will be encouraged to evaluate negative thinking relating to five themes: safety, trust, power/control, self-esteem, and intimacy. During the final sessions, their impact statements on the violence to which they had been subjected will be altered to include emotional and cognitive insights obtained during the CPT.