Patricia A. Resick is an American psychologist, researcher, and pioneer in the field of traumatic stress. She is best known as the creator of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which she began developing in 1988. Resick understood the relationship between motivation and psychopathology primarily through the way trauma alters avoidance, cognition, emotion, and behaviour.

Building on earlier work by Mowrer (1960) on avoidance learning, Horowitz (1986) on stress-response processing, Foa and Kozak (1986) on emotional processing, and McCann and Pearlman (1990) on trauma-related cognitive schemas, Resick and Monica Schnicke (1992) proposed Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), in which persistent psychopathology after trauma is maintained when people attempt to protect themselves through avoidance while developing rigid or distorted meanings concerning safety, trust, power/control, esteem, and intimacy. Thus, what begins as an understandable motivational response to danger (escaping distress and reminders) can become maladaptive when the danger is no longer present, restricting behaviour and preventing corrective learning.

Resick's subsequent work with Pallavi Nishith, Terri Weaver, Millie Astin, and Catherine Feuer (2002) demonstrated that CPT could reduce PTSD and depression, while later dismantling research showed that cognitive work itself could be effective without the original written-exposure component, reinforcing the importance of changing trauma-related meanings rather than simply forcing exposure. In this framework, therefore, motivation is not simply a personality trait or prerequisite for recovery. Motivationally significant processes such as avoidance, perceived control, self-efficacy, and willingness to approach previously feared material interact dynamically with psychopathology, while therapeutic engagement creates opportunities for new learning and restored agency. Contemporary descriptions of CPT likewise identify avoidance as initially protective but potentially perpetuating when it continues after objective danger has passed.

From a Christian perspective, Resick's approach can be read as compatible with, but should not be equated with, Christian theology. CPT's emphasis on examining distorted interpretations and developing a more balanced understanding resonates with Romans 12:2, which speaks of the renewal of the mind, and 2 Corinthians 10:5, concerning bringing thoughts into disciplined obedience; its movement from fear-driven avoidance toward truthful engagement and restored agency can also be placed alongside the Biblical themes of courage and God's presence in suffering (Psalm 23; Isaiah 43:1–2), while the treatment's attention to guilt and responsibility is especially relevant to Christian distinctions between appropriate repentance and destructive, misplaced condemnation (Romans 8:1; 1 John 3:19–20).

At the same time, Christian theology adds dimensions that Resick's psychological model does not itself establish. Namely, humanity's creation in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), the reality of suffering and lament (Psalms 13; 42), forgiveness and reconciliation (Ephesians 4:31–32), and Christian hope grounded in Christ rather than solely in psychological mastery (Romans 5:3–5). Consequently, CPT may be incorporated into Christian pastoral or clinical practice as an empirically grounded account of trauma recovery, while theological claims about sin, grace, redemption, suffering, and ultimate hope require their own theological foundations.

Resick’s work can be usefully connected to the concept of personal life strategies because Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) treats human behaviour as partly shaped by the meanings people assign to experience and by the cognitive and behavioural patterns they subsequently use to protect themselves, pursue goals, and relate to others. Beginning with her work with sexual-assault survivors (Resick & Schnicke, 1992) and developed through subsequent research (Resick et al., 2002) and the CPT manuals (Resick et al., 2016, 2024), Resick argues that traumatic experiences can produce persistent “stuck points”, rigid or distorted interpretations concerning safety, trust, power/control, esteem, and intimacy, which then influence emotional responses and behavioural choices. In terms of the life-strategy concept, this suggests that people continually construct working strategies for navigating perceived threats and opportunities, but that strategies which were understandable or protective in one context can become maladaptive when generalised to present circumstances.

CPT therefore seeks to help individuals examine the evidence for their assumptions, distinguish the past from the present, reduce avoidance, and develop more flexible ways of interpreting and responding to life. Resick’s approach thus contributes an important psychological insight to the life-strategy concept: effective living depends not simply upon what circumstances a person encounters, but upon how those circumstances are cognitively appraised and translated into patterns of action. This can be placed alongside the Biblical emphasis on the transformation of thought and behaviour. Paul’s exhortation to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, NIV) resonates with the idea that deeply held interpretations can shape conduct, while 2 Corinthians 10:5 describes bringing thoughts into disciplined alignment with Christ. Similarly, Proverbs 4:23 connects inner orientation with outward life (“Above all else, guard your heart”), and James 1:22–25 stresses that appropriate understanding should become corresponding action.

A Christian interpretation would nevertheless add dimensions that are not part of Resick’s clinical theory. The ultimate orientation of a life strategy is not merely successful threat management or psychological adaptation but faithfulness to God, love of neighbour, wisdom, hope, and dependence upon divine grace (Matthew 22:37–40; Micah 6:8; Galatians 5:22–23). Theologically, therefore, Resick’s work can be viewed as illuminating how trauma can distort a person’s practical assumptions about safety, agency, worth and relationships, while Christian theology frames the restoration of those assumptions within a larger account of creation, human brokenness, redemption and hope.