The Red Convertible By Louise Erdrich

In a World of Treatment
Imagine taking a hammer to your prized possession. Destroying the very thing that you were so fond of and had put so much of your heart into. Now imagine that having a profound purpose. This is exactly what Louise Erdrich incorporated into his short story “The Red Convertible.” He wanted the reader to understand the lengths people will go to see his or her loved one to be back to his or her normal state of mind. PTSD is a disorder that can be extremely hard to put in perspective, it can also be challenging to find the best treatments for each in individual case. Luckily, with extensive research, we have new options available, such as exposure therapy. This is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that attempts

Patients can expect to learn to differentiate between past trauma and present memory and gain mastery over their reactions to the trauma memory (detailed in Foa, Hembree, & Rothbaum (2007)). Before beginning exposures, patients may also be trained in coping strategies such as relaxation and controlled breathing to make the aftermath of exposure sessions more pleasant (e.g., Foa, Hembree, & Rothbaum (2007); Lyons & Keane (1989)). Imaginal exposures entail real-time verbal or written confrontation of the trauma memory. The therapist guides the patient through revisiting a trauma memory in the therapy session by imagining a scene and repeating the narrative verbally. The patient is asked to recount the worst or most distressing event multiple times in session and listen to a recording of the session as homework (Foa, Hembree, & Rothbaum (2007)). Sessions conclude with extensive discussion of the experience to promote the integration of more benign meanings about the event. Other imaginal exposure approaches include repeated reading of a written trauma account (Resick, Monson, & Chard (2010)). Another form of written exposure therapy, developed for victims of multiple traumatic events due to war or organized violence, is Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET; Robjant & Fazel (2010)), the goal of which is to integrate background information and sensory

Specialty care (as opposed to primary care) requires advanced training, supervision, and, typically, advanced degrees for the practitioner. Specialty care is more expensive and harder to access. In addition, proper use of exposure therapy requires training in the theory behind the treatment (Abramowitz (2013)). To address concerns that proper use of PE would be limited by the training hurdle, a study comparing providers reported that community therapists are equally competent at delivering PE as experts who have specialized in PE treatment research (Foa et al. (2005)).
Exposure therapy following trauma has a long clinical history, and recent research generally supports the efficacy of various forms of exposure treatments for PTSD. Additional research is needed to assess the real-world effectiveness of exposure-based treatments in diverse trauma-affected populations. Facing painful memories is an intensive process, and exposure treatment must be grounded in evidence-based approaches to facilitate proper use of these powerful