It's not often I feel the need to post on here about an article in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (for 'not often' read 'never'), but this one got me thinking:
Researchers from Buffalo surveyed people involved in 9/11 and compared the levels of PTSD, depression and readaption between those who'd been promoted to talk through their experiences, and those who'd bottled it all up. Turns out the silent ones fared significantly better than expected, which questions the current populist policy of forcing everyone to 'open up' about trauma almost before the fires are out. For some, it will help - but for others it can make their recovery far more difficult. Public media campaigns to reach out to survivors often make it seem that to keep your emotions to yourself is damaging; even to the point of being a clinical problem in its own right. If you don't want to be on Oprah, you must be sick.
I never agree with any one-plan-for-all idea (personally I'm an avid bottler and get on just fine TYVM) - but how about you peeps? Have you found it helpful to talk about traumatic events in your past, or do you think you coped better being left to process it internally?
(and if that question is too traumatic to answer, try another article from this month's issue which claims that data from a sample of college students "suggest that 21st birthday drinking poses an extreme danger". Shockingly, it seems 4 out of 5 people drink on their 21st birthday. I'm aghast, frankly. What happened to the other guy?)
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