CPT vs STAIR
A side-by-side comparison: mechanism, evidence, the conditions each treats, philosophical roots, and where they actually disagree clinically.
At a glance
CPT
- Tradition
- Cognitive-Behavioral
- Founder
- Patricia Resick (1992)
- Evidence
- Guideline-recommended
- Focus
- Skill-building
- Format
- Individual + Group
- Duration
- Short (12)
STAIR
- Tradition
- Cognitive-Behavioral
- Founder
- Marylene Cloitre (2002)
- Evidence
- Guideline-recommended
- Focus
- Skill + Processing
- Format
- Individual
- Duration
- Short (16)
How they work
CPT
Core mechanism: Identifying and challenging stuck points (distorted trauma-related beliefs) restores balanced appraisals of safety, trust, power, esteem, intimacy
Ontology: Trauma disrupts pre-existing beliefs or generates distorted accommodations about self and world
STAIR
Core mechanism: Phase 1 builds emotion regulation and interpersonal skills; Phase 2 uses modified narrative exposure with these new capacities
Ontology: Complex trauma disrupts both affect regulation and interpersonal functioning; skills needed before narrative processing
Conditions treated
2 shared · 0 CPT-only · 0 STAIR-only
Both treat
What each assumes — and misses
CPT
Philosophical roots: Beck (cognitive model); Horowitz (stress response theory); Piaget (accommodation/assimilation); constructivism (meaning is actively constructed)
Blind spots: Cognitive focus may underemphasize somatic and emotional processing; structured protocol can feel rigid
Therapeutic voice: You wrote that the assault was your fault because you didn't fight back. Let's look at that stuck point together.
STAIR
Philosophical roots: Herman (phase-oriented treatment); Cloitre (skills before exposure); developmental psychopathology; attachment theory
Blind spots: Two-phase structure lengthens treatment; Phase 1 skills focus may feel slow for clients ready to process
Therapeutic voice: Let's practice naming what you're feeling with more precision — not just 'bad,' but specifically what kind of bad.
Choosing between them
CPT and STAIR both sit within the Cognitive-Behavioral tradition — they share a worldview about what suffering is and how change happens. Differences are more often about technique and emphasis than about underlying theory.
For deeper coverage: see the full CPT and STAIR pages, or use the interactive comparison tool to add more modalities to this comparison.