According to research addressed in this article, the use of writing techniques can improve the overall treatment outcome for individuals experiencing PTSD, and can facilitate quicker improvement. From the article:
Language, or rather what the therapist and patient discuss, is a key concept in this form of therapy. Even better results may be achieved with the integration of writing therapy. For instance, Penn discovered that rape victims benefit enormously in describing the traumatic event, first aloud, and then on paper. In so doing, they reshape the reality, partly through applying a process of social construction. This way, they may add a person to their recollection who could rescue them from the undesirable situation which caused the trauma. Patients thus create a new reality, reducing the severity of their 'flashbacks' and ultimately dispelling them altogether.
I’d like to read more about this study, as writing has been a useful part of PTSD therapy for as long as I can remember. I wonder if this study is simply attributing its effectiveness to a new theoretical construction, or if the writing exercises differ in a meaningful way to what has been previously utilized. In the article, there is a suggestion that:
A therapeutic conversation is then one in which meanings may be reconstructed by a patient and therapist working together. New ways of speaking about the patient and his/her relationships are discovered. This means that patients may view their relationships in a different manner, and also may alter their self-conception. This approach stands in contrast to many current therapeutic schools of thought, where the goal of a therapeutic conversation is to expose personal or family problems so that the correct therapy may be applied.
Again, I’ll need to examine the article itself, but much of what I have learned about the use of writing techniques in therapy for trauma, as well as the goal itself, is to examine the client’s pre-existing schemas about the world, themselves, and others, as well as how the client’s world, self, and other-views have been shifted as a result of the trauma. Therapy often examines these shifts, and focuses on working with the client to assimilate and/or accommodate the experiences of the trauma into new views that alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. What is being described above sounds like it may be quite similar, albeit with different terminology. Writing can be integral to this process, as it provides an opportunity for the client to sort out many complicated, conflicting thoughts and feelings that result from being traumatized. It also allows the client to communicate these self-assessments to the therapist in a sometimes more coherent manner.
The other benefit of writing as a part of trauma therapy is more basic. It allows for gradual exposure to the traumatic event, in a manner that returns control back to the client. Control is often a major issue for individuals with PTSD, as traumatic event events, by definition, are beyond the control of the victim. The symptoms of PTSD are often about regaining control, but in an unhealthy way. Writing allows the client to explore the traumatic event at their pace, slowly at first, and can be discontinued at the discretion of the client (thus, the control). The goal would be to for gradual progress in the client’s ability to write about the trauma, both in terms of time, as well as in details/intensity. But again, slowly and with without ever reaching a point where the anxiety becomes overwhelming. In time, the trauma, becomes integrated into the client’s world, self, and other-views, as a part of their experience, but not the only experience, and the symptoms reduce along with this progress.
Interestingly, I had planned to start writing a primer on PTSD; an introduction to the concept of PTSD and trauma, in a series of posts. With this article, maybe I’ll pursue this soooner rather than later.
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