The effectiveness of cognitive-processing therapy on the autobiographical memory and grief experience in corona survivors with post-traumatic stress

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from direct experience of a severe injury, such as the sudden death of a family member, can significantly impact a person's health by altering cognition, exacerbate grief symptoms and impaired autobiographical memory. Several studies have investigated the effects of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) on reducing PTSD symptoms caused by bereavement and cognitive programming, but none have specifically examined the impact of this therapeutic approach on grief symptoms and autobiographical memory. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluation of the effectiveness of CPT on the autobiographical memory and grief experience in Covid-19 survivors with PTSD which have suffering from breavement. Methods: The method of the current research was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test control group design and the study population included Covid-19 survivors with symptoms of PTSD in Shiraz in 1400, who lost a family member and were diagnosed with PTSD, based on The Mississippi PTSD Scale (Kean, Caddelle, & Taylor, 1988). Thirty people were selected by purposeful sampling and divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent cognitive processing therapy in 12 sessions of 90 minutes, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The data collection tools were The Mississippi PTSD Scale (Kean, Caddelle, & Taylor, 1988), Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) (Barrett & Scott, 1989) and Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) (Williams & Broadbent, 1986). Data analysis was done by one-way analysis of covariance in SPSS-27 software. Results: The results showed that the experimental group demonstrated significant decreases in GEQ scores and significant improvements in AMT scores for positive, negative, and neutral word classes (P< 0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that CPT, by developing a deep understanding of the traumatic experience, is an effective intervention for reducing grief symptoms and improving autobiographical memory performance in bereaved individuals with PTSD symptoms. Therapists should consider CPT as a viable treatment option for this population.