A group of American researchers from Boston University and other scientific institutions have found a way to increase the effectiveness of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment using exposure writing therapy: writing down your experiences. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine JAMA Network.
Serious psychological trauma can have devastating consequences in a person’s life. Current treatments for PTSD are based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which involves telling the trauma story to a professional. Most people have difficulty recalling painful memories at first, but when the circumstances of the event are repeated many times, the event loses its emotional charge.
However, healing from trauma using CBT takes a long time. The person must undergo eight to 15 sessions, each of which can last up to 90 minutes. This can be difficult not only for patients but also for therapists. For this reason, approximately 45% of those who need treatment cannot complete it.
Psychologists at Boston University have found a way to speed recovery from PTSD by asking patients to write about their trauma experiences. As one trial involving 178 people showed, written exposure therapy needed on average half as many sessions to achieve an effect – 6.2 sessions versus 12.5 sessions.
Additionally, each writing session lasted between 45 and 60 minutes, and patients did not need to do additional tasks at home.
In the first three sessions of exposure writing therapy, people wrote about their trauma, focusing on the thoughts and feelings that arose during the event. In the next two sessions, patients described how the event affected their lives.
The results showed that those who received written exposure therapy achieved the same results as those who received traditional CBT.
The authors note that more research is needed, given the large number of experiments showing the effectiveness of CBT and similar treatments. But psychologists are sure that writing really helps people cope with mental pain faster.
Previous scientists determined Products that improve mental health.