A manualized, trauma-focused psychotherapy for adolescents and adults, ages 12-45, suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The program teaches skills for processing and managing trauma-related reactions to stressful situations, such as PTSD symptoms, traumatic grief, survivor guilt, and shame. The goal of treatment is to help individuals regulate intense emotions and gain control of posttraumatic stress reactions. The three main components of the therapy are delivered through group or individual therapy: 1) education about the biological and behavioral components of substance use disorders and PTSD; 2) guided implementation of information/emotion processing and self-regulation skills; and 3) development of an autobiographical narrative that incorporates the trauma and PTSD. In the brief therapy form, individuals receive counseling in 12 weekly sessions, but treatment may sometimes last between 6 months and several years. Therapy focuses on the client’s core values and hopes, resilience, and client strengths. Therapists reframe PTSD symptoms as healthy reactions to an abnormal circumstance. Clients learn that they can reset this “biological alarm” (Ford and Russo 2006), which does not serve the individual well in ordinary life.