Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A) Treatment Guide 2Nd Edition
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Adolescent Trauma Training Center Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A) Treatment Guide 2nd Edition John Briere, Ph.D. and Cheryl B. Lanktree, Ph.D. Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A) Treatment Guide 2nd Edition John Briere, Ph.D. Cheryl Lanktree, Ph.D. USC Adolescent Trauma Training Center (USC-ATTC) National Child Traumatic Stress Network Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California Los Angeles, California This 2nd Edition of the ITCT-A Treatment Guide was supported by grant #1U79SM061262-01 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional copies of this guide may be downloaded from the internet at no cost: attc.usc.edu. © Briere & Lanktree, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction to the 2nd Edition ..........................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Problems and Symptoms ...................................................................................7 Chapter 2: Assessment.......................................................................................................11 Chapter 3: Treatment Overview ........................................................................................23 Chapter 4: Relationship Building and Support .................................................................35 Chapter 5: Safety Interventions .........................................................................................41 Chapter 6: Psychoeducation ..............................................................................................47 Chapter 7: Distress Reduction and Affect Regulation Training .......................................51 Chapter 8: Mindfulness Training ......................................................................................65 Chapter 9: Cognitive Processing .......................................................................................71 Chapter 10: Titrated Exposure ..........................................................................................81 Chapter 11: Trigger Identification and Intervention ........................................................97 Chapter 12: Interventions for Identity Issues ..................................................................103 Chapter 13: Relational Processing ...................................................................................109 Chapter 14: Intervening in Maladaptive Substance Use .................................................121 Chapter 15: Interventions with Caretakers and Family Members ..................................129 Chapter 16: Group Sessions ............................................................................................145 Chapter 17: Sequence and Session-Level Structure of ITCT-A Individual Sessions ....157 References ........................................................................................................................161 Appendices .......................................................................................................................175 Initial Trauma Review—Adolescent version (ITR-A) .......................................177 Assessment-Treatment Flowchart: Adolescent version (ATF-A) ......................183 Written Homework About My Trauma .............................................................185 What Triggers Me? (The Trigger Grid) ............................................................189 Introduction to the 2nd Edition This treatment guide, now in its second edition, has been developed to assist clinicians in the evaluation and treatment of adolescents who have experienced multiple forms of psychological trauma, often in the context of negative living conditions such as poverty, deprivation, and social discrimination. The intervention described in this guide, Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A), is being adopted by a growing number of treatment centers for adolescent trauma survivors in the United States and beyond. Additional copies of the ITCT-A treatment guide and associated materials can be downloaded from the internet: attc.usc.edu. Background Social and economic deprivation, as well as racism, sexism, homophobia, and homelessness, not only produce their own negative effects on children and adults (e.g., Bassuk, et al., 2003; Carter, 2007), they also increase the likelihood of trauma exposure and may intensify the effects of such victimization (e.g., Breslau, Wilcox, Storr, Lucia, & Anthony, 2004; Chen, Keith, Airriess, Wei & Leong, 2007). Equally important, such marginalization typically means that traumatized youth have less access to appropriate mental health services (e.g., McKay, Lynn, & Bannon, 2005; Perez & Fortuna, 2005; Rayburn, et al., 2005). It is a general finding of the clinical literature that people with lesser social status are more likely than others to be victimized. Among the traumas common among those with lower socioeconomic status are child abuse, sexual and physical assaults by peers, gang or community violence, “drive-by” shootings, robbery, sexual exploitation through prostitution, trauma associated with refugee status, witnessing domestic violence, and loss associated with the murder of a family member or friend (e.g., Berthold, 2000; Breslau, 1991; Farley, 2003; Giaconia et al.,1995; MacBeth, Sugar, & Pataki, 2009; Schwab-Stone, et al., 1995; Singer, Anglin, Song, & Lunghofer, 1995). When an individual has experienced multiple, severe forms of trauma, the psychological results are often multiple and severe as well; a phenomenon sometimes referred to as complex posttraumatic disturbance. Complex trauma can be defined as a combination of early and late-onset, multiple, and sometimes highly invasive traumatic events, usually of Introduction to the 2nd Edition 1 an ongoing, interpersonal nature. In most cases, such trauma includes exposure to repetitive childhood sexual, physical, and/or psychological abuse, often (although not always) in the context of concomitant emotional neglect and harmful social environments (Briere & Scott, 2012; Cook, et al., 2005). As described in Chapter 1, the impacts of complex trauma include anxiety and depression; dissociation; relational, identity, and affect regulation disturbance; cognitive distortions; somatization; “externalizing” behaviors such as self-mutilation, dysfunctional sexual behavior, and violence; substance abuse; eating disorders; susceptibility to revictimization; and traumatic bereavement associated with loss of family members and other significant attachment figures. Although complex trauma and its effects are quite prevalent in mental health populations, especially in socially deprived or marginalized populations, there are few empirically informed treatments for children and adolescents in this area. Part of this lack may be due to the challenging nature of the problem; the range of these impacts often requires a multimodal, multicomponent treatment strategy. Treatment approaches that are limited to a single modality (e.g., exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, or psychiatric medication) may sometimes be less helpful—perhaps especially, as noted above, if the intervention is not adapted to the specific psychological needs and cultural matrix of the client. The MCAVIC-USC and USC-ATTC programs The first edition of this treatment guide was developed from 2005 to 2008 by the Miller Children’s Abuse and Violence Intervention Center (MCAVIC), an outpatient, multidisciplinary assessment and treatment center at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, California, and the University of Southern California (USC) Psychological Trauma Program in Los Angeles, California. These centers came together in a joint project, the MCAVIC-USC Child and Adolescent Trauma Program, which was funded in 2005 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as a Category II (Treatment and Service Adaptation) Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). This project continued until it lost funding in 2009, after which time the Center was forced to close, and USC’s relationship with Miller Children’s Hospital ended. However, the ITCT-A treatment guide was further revised and updated from 2008 to 2011 (e.g., Briere & Lanktree, 2011; `Lanktree & Briere, 2013) based on community and 2 Introduction to the 2nd Edition clinician feedback, and further developments in the field. In 2012, a new entity, the USC Adolescent Trauma Training Center (USC-ATTC) was funded by SAMHSA as a Category II center of the NCTSN. This project supported, among other activities and products, this final revision (2nd Edition) of the treatment guide, which is currently subject to nationwide dissemination. Overview of Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma ITCT child version ITCT was first developed for children by MCAVIC between 2001 and 2005, as part of its Category III funding by SAMHSA. Later named Integrative Treatment for Complex Trauma for Children (ITCT-C; Lanktree & Briere, 2008), this treatment model was developed and adapted to assist culturally diverse children, many of whom were also coping with stress associated with immigration (from Mexico, Central America, Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia) and separation from primary caretakers who remained in their country of origin. ITCT-C (as well as ITCT-A) especially stresses multidimensional/complex trauma reactions and comorbidities,