A practical worksheet designed to aid mental health professionals in formulating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) including unwanted memories, trauma-related appraisals, and coping strategies.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
An editable Microsoft PowerPoint version of the resource.
This PTSD Formulation worksheet provides a structured approach to understanding the elements of PTSD, focusing on trauma memories, appraisals, and coping strategies. It is designed to be user-friendly and client-centered, assisting clinicians in gathering essential information and facilitating effective therapy. The worksheet helps clients articulate their experiences and symptoms in a comprehensible way, aiding the therapeutic process.
Understanding PTSD requires a comprehensive approach that addresses both past trauma and current symptoms. This resource helps clinicians:
People struggling with symptoms of PTSD following a traumatic event(s).
Facilitate understanding of the impact of the trauma in manageable steps.
Clarify which aspects of trauma memories are experienced involuntarily.
Identify triggers and their role in the client's experience of PTSD.
Assess both peri- and post-traumatic appraisals that influence the client’s perception of threat.
Use the worksheet to explore coping strategies.
Formulate treatment plans that work with components of memories, appraisals, and behaviors.
Ehlers and Clark’s cognitive model of PTSD proposes that the disorder is maintained by unprocessed trauma memories, maladaptive appraisals, and ineffective coping strategies. These elements create a persistent sense of threat, even when actual danger has passed. Grounded in this model, the worksheet aids in developing personalized formulations that inform trauma-focused therapy.
Trauma memories in PTSD tend to be fragmented, sensory-rich, and poorly integrated into the person’s broader life narrative. Because of this, they often intrude involuntarily and can feel as though they are happening in the present moment, which reinforces the sense of current threat.
In addition, people frequently develop negative appraisals of the trauma and its aftermath. These appraisals might involve distorted beliefs about responsibility, danger, or permanent change (e.g., “It was my fault,” “Nowhere is safe,” or “I’m permanently damaged”). These interpretations contribute to ongoing distress.
Coping strategies intended to manage distress — such as avoidance, suppression of memories, or hypervigilance — can unintentionally maintain symptoms. They prevent the trauma memory from being processed and stop individuals from updating their beliefs with new, corrective information.
This worksheet helps clients and therapists collaboratively explore how trauma memories, appraisals, and coping responses interact to maintain PTSD symptoms. By increasing understanding of these processes, the formulation can guide the development of targeted interventions that promote emotional processing, modify unhelpful appraisals, and support more adaptive coping.
