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STAIR can improve trauma survivors’ ability to work with difficult emotions and improve relationships
Treatment for Childhood Trauma and Complex PTSD
While there are many effective evidence-based treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), not all treatments were designed specifically for childhood trauma and complex PTSD. Research has shown individuals who experienced childhood and complex trauma have more difficulty with relationships and overwhelming emotions, symptoms that may make it even more difficult to complete traditional trauma treatment. For that reason, researchers and clinicians created Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR).
Unlike other trauma treatments, STAIR does not require clients to talk in detail about the traumatic event.
Instead, STAIR focuses on helping clients:
- Learn skills to identify and work with difficult emotions
- Learn skills to improve relationships (addressing issues of intimacy, improving communication, decreasing reactivity/jumping to conclusions, etc.)
These skills can then help clients be even more successful in talking through what happened in subsequent trauma treatments (like CPT or PE).
STAIR can help you live life vibrantly
Research has shown that patients who complete STAIR:
- Are better able to deal with difficult emotions
- Have fewer relationship difficulties
- Are more likely to complete treatment (than treatments that focus on immediately working through the details of the traumatic events)
Additionally, those who completed STAIR and then began a more intensive trauma treatment were found to have even greater improvements in symptoms and were more likely to no longer meet criteria for PTSD.
Many individuals can benefit from STAIR
STAIR is a great treatment option for individuals who:
- Want to learn additional skills to deal with difficult emotions before other trauma therapies
- Want to learn skills to improve their relationships
- Are not yet ready to talk about the specific details and effects of the trauma
- Need additional skills to effectively work through other trauma treatments
- Are at greater risk of leaving treatment due to avoidance (a symptom of PTSD)
Summary of STAIR as a Treatment for Trauma
- STAIR is short for Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation
- STAIR is a treatment that focuses on improving trauma survivors’ ability to work with difficult emotions and improve relationships
- Was initially designed for survivors of childhood trauma or complex PTSD
- Can be used as a stand alone treatment or as a “pre-treatment” before more intensive trauma treatments (such as PE or CPT)
- Does not require you to talk about the trauma in detail (other than enough to identify whether or not you meet criteria for PTSD)
- Duration of treatment: Approximately 8 individual therapy sessions
- Length of session: 50 min
- Practice assignments: daily skills practice
To learn more about PTSD and research-based interventions, see the following resources:
If you are interested in learning about STAIR or other trauma treatments, schedule a free 15 min consultation with Dr. Dautenhahn.
Contact Us TodayReferences
Cloitre, M., Koenen, K. C., Cohen, L. R., & Han, H. (2002). Skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation followed by exposure: a phase-based treatment for PTSD related to childhood abuse. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 70(5), 1067.
Cloitre, M., Stovall-McClough, K. C., Nooner, K., Zorbas, P., Cherry, S., Jackson, C. L., … & Petkova, E. (2010). Treatment for PTSD related to childhood abuse: A randomized controlled trial. American journal of psychiatry, 167(8), 915-924.
Lorbeer, N., Knaevelsrud, C., & Niemeyer, H. (2023). STAIR and STAIR/NT as a Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress: A Systematic Review. Verhaltenstherapie, 33(2-3), 53-63.