The PTSD Workbook by Mary Beth Williams is FULL of exercises in each chapter. I outlined the first 3 to give you an idea. It describes many techniques that can be used while maintaining a feeling of encouragement. What I liked most was on page 38 it gives 11 different things to look for that may mean the person is doing too much work out of the work book. I did notice some of the language may be too hard to understand for lower functioning clients. I would recommend this book because it gives very visual, specific, and recordable ways to rate feelings and experiences. A number of exercises in this book would work for a variety of client issues. Any client that is in need of taking a harder look into their feelings and experiences would benefit from some of the exercises. If tackled head on it is a lot for one person to do but broken down I believe it is an awesome resource.
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Chapter 1: A look at trauma: Simple and complex
I noticed the wording the very positive and encouraging, “By picking up this book, you have shown that you are not denying any need to look for change. You may still have some resistance but at least you are willing to begin to look.”
The first sentence of the book is, “What is trauma?” Goes through the trauma story, then into defining and reacting to trauma.
Exercise: My ability to cope with trauma
Explains Acute Stress D/O and PTSD
Goes into true and false memories
Am I a healthy person?
My trauma related beliefs
My healing history
Committing to the work – asks person to commit to working on their PTSD
Journal exercise: Drawings of self and environment
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Chapter 2: Safety – what it means to be safe
Exercises:
My sense of safety
Safety assessment
My safe place
Journal exercise: Safe place collage/drawing
Exercise: Getting to my safe place – involves developing and using a symbol or phrase to return to your safe place and draw strength from it using visualization
Next goes into checking in with yourself, relaxation and breathing techniques
Deep breathing
PMR
Quick relaxation (PMR with bigger muscle groups so it does not take as long)
Page 38: When to take a break from doing work out of the workbook – 11 things to look for and 5 self-care things to do when taking a break
My safety net
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Chapter 3: Identifying and writing about what has happened to you
Subjective Units of Distress – SUDS scale; person is asked to chose a level of the scale they feel they are experiencing and explain why.
Trauma inventory
My positive traits
Page 45: do you have PTSD
My symptoms
Create trauma time-line
Healing by writing
Journal exercise: My traumatic experience – over 4 days the person is asked to write about an experience for 20 minutes each day without stopping
Exercise: Learning from my traumatic experiences – person asked to reflect on what they wrote for 4 days and what they learned about the trauma, self, and their world.
Using metaphors to describe trauma – explains there is no one way to tell your story
Time to Heal – asks person to pick specific symptoms that are bothering them to be worked on then use the exercises in the rest of the workbook to assist with recovery
