Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction Therapy

Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction Therapy (TrIGR) provides mental health professionals with tools for assessing and treating guilt and shame resulting from trauma and moral injury. Guilt and shame are common features in many of the problems trauma survivors experience including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance use, and suicidality. This book presents Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction (TrIGR) Therapy, a brief, transdiagnostic psychotherapy designed to reduce guilt and shame. TrIGR offers flexibility in that it can be delivered as an individual or group treatment. Case examples demonstrate how TrIGR can be applied to a range of trauma types including physical assault, sexual abuse, childhood abuse, motor vehicle accidents, and to moral injury from combat and other military-related events. Conceptualization of trauma-related guilt and shame, assessment and treatment, and special applications are covered in-depth.

• Summarizes the empirical literature connecting guilt, shame, moral injury, and posttraumatic problems
• Guides therapists in assessing posttraumatic guilt, shame, moral injury, and related problems
• Provides a detailed look at a brief, transdiagnostic therapy shown to reduce guilt and shame related to trauma
• Describes how TrIGR can be delivered as an individual or group intervention
• Includes a comprehensive therapist manual and client workbook

Sonya Norman, PhD, received her B.A. from Vassar College in cultural anthropology and her PhD in counseling psychology from Stanford University. She is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the PTSD Consultation Program at the VA's National Center for PTSD. She previously directed a PTSD treatment program for Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Norman conducts research in treating posttraumatic guilt, shame, and moral injury as well as in the treatment of PTSD and addictions. She is passionate about bringing together clinical work and research such that her research ideas are born from her clinical work and the goal of her research is to improve treatment outcomes for people who have experienced trauma. She has served as a training director for a postdoctoral fellowship in evidence-based psychotherapy. Dr. Norman has had research grants funded by the National Institute of Health, the Department of Defense, and the VA and has over 100 publications related to posttraumatic guilt and shame, PTSD and associated problems.