Let's Talk About It for Good Health

Facilitating open communication between parent and child is a worthwhile treatment goal when addressing childhood trauma.

Openness in discussing one's emotions is often described as an essential component in coping with anxiety that may be associated with distressful events.

Many theoretical perspectives, such as psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral theories, hypothesize a direct relationship between healthy coping and openness in disclosing information about one's emotions and feelings.

Research supports the theoretically defined relationship between disclosure of emotions and healthy coping. Talking about feelings associated with traumatic or distressing events is linked to psychological well-being, improved functioning, better self-reported health, and better immune responses (Lutz, 2007).

Family members may be out of sync about willingness to communicate: one may continue to be quite upset as others feel ready to move on.

A breadwinner, caregiver, or single parent may suppress strong emotional reactions in order to keep functioning for the family; children may try to help by stifling their own feelings and needs or trying to cheer up parents.

Communication processes foster resilience by bringing clarity to crisis situations, encouraging open emotional expression, and fostering collaborative problem-solving.

It must be kept in mind that cultural norms vary considerably in the sharing of sensitive information and expression of feelings (Walsh, 2003).

It has been my clinical experience (working with parent and child dyads) that these difficult and often painful conversations need a clinician to mediate or facilitate the exchange in a therapeutic session if the conversation is to occur at all and be successful - with rewards that are worth all the effort.