Reconsidering How to Treatment Plan for Trauma-Related Diagnoses

More now than ever, mental health professionals are seeing an uptick in the number of clients they serve. Therapists have a never-ending waitlist as clients patiently wait to receive psychotherapy treatment. Once seen, some clients report sudden improvement of symptoms while others struggle for years.

To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of psychotherapy, this research project sought to answer the question, “How can client data be used to improve treatment outcomes in trauma-related diagnoses?” This presentation will explore the findings.

Three scholarly products, including a systematic literature review (SLR), conceptual paper, and practice application paper, will be covered within this presentation. In the SLR, relevant literature is explored and three recurring themes are identified: biopsychosocial markers may predict treatment outcomes, improvements are needed to treatment planning, and the therapeutic relationship plays an important role in treatment outcomes. Drawing from this information, this second portion of this research overview will explore the strengths and pitfalls of the biopsychosocial theory in practice and present the Biopsychosocial Treatment Model.

Finally, the Biopsychosocial Treatment Model Assessment Tool (BTM-AT) will be introduced and demonstrate how clinicians can utilize this measure may determine if a top-down or bottom-up treatment approach is most effective for their client.

This presentation is a brief overview of extensive research conducted on this topic over the past two years. Research implications provide strategic and systematic processes to treatment planning, may improve treatment outcomes, and subsequently promote efficiency in treatment.