Writing about Trauma Can Produce Health Benefits

By Jane Collingwood

It’s well established that talking about traumatic incidents with a therapist, supportive family or friends can be therapeutic, producing improvements in psychological and physical health. People who open up about traumatic events they have experienced have been found to benefit from a variety of health improvements, including improved mood, lower rates of infection, and lower blood pressure. And it has been established that not talking about traumatic experiences is associated with poorer health outcomes.

As helpful as talking about trauma maybe, it is often difficult for the victims to discuss it. Particularly difficult traumas, such as sexual abuse and rape—events which victims frequently perceive as shameful—make victims more vulnerable to poor health, including chronic diseases and headaches. Useful alternatives to talking about trauma are available.

Scientists have studied whether writing about trauma might be as effective as talking about it. Typically, this type of study asks trauma victims to participate in a structured writing task where they are encouraged to write about the thoughts and feelings associated with their trauma for about twenty minutes a day, three to five days a week. Several studies of this type have produced similar results, finding that written disclosure of emotional reactions to trauma leads to a wide variety of positive health consequences.

Scientists are unsure how this works. One possibility is that writing about traumatic experience serves as a stress release, decreasing the overall level of bodily stress that victims carry and thus reducing their vulnerability to diseases brought on due to chronic stress.

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The Health Benefits of Journaling

By Maud Purcell, LCSW, CEAP

I’ll bet you write (or word process) daily. If you are like most women, you record only what you must. In an effort to change your mind and your habits, I’ll let you in on a well-kept secret: A pen coupled with paper can serve as a powerful life tool.

Journaling (or keeping letters or diaries) is an ancient tradition, one that dates back to at least 10th century Japan. Successful people throughout history have kept journals. Presidents have maintained them for posterity; other famous figures for their own purposes. Oscar Wilde, 19th century playwright, said: “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.”

Health Benefits

Contrary to popular belief, our forefathers (and mothers) did know a thing or two. There is increasing evidence to support the notion that journaling has a positive impact on physical well-being. University of Texas at Austin psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker contends that regular journaling strengthens immune cells, called T-lymphocytes. Other research indicates that journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Pennebaker believes that writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health.

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Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT)

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

Mentalization based therapy (MBT) is a specific type of psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy designed to help people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Its focus is helping people to differentiate and separate out their own thoughts and feelings from those around them.

People with borderline personality disorder tend to have unstable and intense relationships, and may unconsciously exploit and manipulate others. They may find it difficult or impossible to recognize the effects their behavior has on other people, to put themselves in other people’s shoes and to empathize with others.

Mentalization is the capacity to understand both behavior and feelings and how they’re associated with specific mental states, not just in ourselves, but in others as well. It is theorized that people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have a decreased capacity for mentalization. Mentalization is a component in most traditional types of psychotherapy, but it is not usually the primary focus of such therapy approaches.

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Anger Therapy

By Sonia Neale

Aristotle said: Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power; that is not easy.

When I entered therapy thirteen years ago, I was very angry; only I didn’t know it. I thought everyone else was the problem. My limbic system was out of kilter and went Chernobyl if I was crossed in any way; be it by my family, my mother, my co-workers, the vacuum cleaner, the dish-washer or the video machine, I would have a well-deserved brain snap. I could literally feel the poisonous, toxic hormones exploding, flooding and melting down my brain in a mushroom cloud of fear, loathing and impending catastrophe.

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New Study Finds That Add-On Treatment Improves Depressive Symptoms In Bipolar Disorder

Lingering depression is a serious and common problem in bipolar disorder, and does not resolve well with existing treatments. Because individuals with both depression and bipolar disorder experience a glutathione deficiency, an antioxidant that protects cells from toxins, researchers in a new study scheduled for publication in the September 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry sought to evaluate whether N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an over-the-counter supplement that increases brain glutathione, might help alleviate depressive symptoms. Read more

Write It Out

Clinicians  have found that the following journal exercise helps relieve ongoing sources of stress. A single attempt is not enough, though. When you first sit down to write about a problem, you may feel more anxious. The wound, once exposed, may initially hurt more than it did while hidden. But continuing to write about the same problem over the course of several days often enables you to work through difficult emotions and reach resolution or acceptance.

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Bright Light Therapy for Bipolar Disorder

By Rick Nauert, Ph.D.

A recent study finds bright light therapy can ease bipolar depression in some patients.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic studied nine women with bipolar disorder to examine the effects of light therapy in the morning or at midday on mood symptoms.

“There are limited effective treatments for the depressive phase of bipolar disorder,” said Dorothy Sit, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and the study’s first author. “While there are treatments that are effective for mania, the major problem is the depression, which can linger so long that it never really goes away.”

The study is published in the journal Bipolar Disorders.

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Therapy and Lifestyle Changes

Classic psychotherapy does not help most patients with bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, many newer approaches are proving to be very useful. Trained mental health professionals can:

• Educate patients about bipolar disorder and its treatments
• Help them comply with drug regimens
• Monitor the patient’s on-going status
• Intervene early in manic and depressive episodes to reduce the severity of the attack

In addition, trained professionals can help patients:

• Adjust to the reality of the illness and understand the negative consequences of mania — particularly important for patients who consider their mania to be positive, creative, and exhilarating
• Cope with feelings of guilt and remorse that occur after manic episodes
• Deal with feelings of imperfection and despair

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Success Stories – #7

by Anonymous

Lesbians Everywhere: A gay spiker confronts her pure-O theme about getting an answer to her sexual orientation question

This particular tale of OCD begins with a crush on a boy named Sam.

I was a very happy girl. I was about to graduate at the top of my high school class, spent bags of time with my friends, and was enjoying my crush, of course. Sam, however, didn’t like receiving my attention as much as I liked giving it. About four months after we met, I heard from a mutual friend that Sam was gay.

I was a bit depressed and slightly embarrassed. Sam hadn’t turned out to be the love of my young life. Mostly, though, I felt relieved to know his true colors, and hoped that he (and I) would be happy with future boyfriends.
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Success Stories – #6

by Anonymous

From prisoner to gate keeper…A woman exposes her children to perceived risks so that she might liberate herself from the confines of OCD and pursue a career in psychology.

During my second pregnancy, at age 18, I experienced the onset of OCD. This 18 year time lapse is due to the following reasons. During this time period there was progressive expansion of peculiar feelings, fears and behaviors and I had no concept that these symptoms related to any disorder. I didn’t even know there was such a disorder as OCD. I thought I was overprotective (giving away my children’s puppy to keep them from harm), a worrier (spending fruitless hours problem solving what hazards threatened them), and a little off the wall (I wouldn’t let them visit friend’s houses who had pets).
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