Families, Trauma & Storytelling

From Bernardon, S. and Pernice-Duca, F. (2010). A Family Sytems Perspective to Recovery From Posttraumatic Stress in Children.  The Family Journal, 18, 349-357:

"The participation of the family in the treatment process following a traumatic event or stressor is considered key to recovery." 

"...the promotion of recovery for children requires the active participation of the family within the therapeutic environment, allowing family members to develop a narrative on the trauma experienced and co-constructing healthy ways to cope.  This joint commitment serves to enhance communication between all family members, increase understanding of the trauma and subsequent symptom expression, as well as alleviate the family's tendency to rely on rigid or ineffective ways of coping." 

"Recovery approaches that emphasize deconstructing the fragmented traumatic memories and reorganizing them into a coherent, meaningful narrative have been associated with reduced PTSD severity." 

Researchers reported "community violence as equally affecting both parents and children, which then resulted in higher mental health issues across the life span." 

Researchers also reported "...parental mental health as being strongly related to adolescent's PTSD symptomotology.  Parents suffering from PTSD may model PTSD symptoms such as avoidance or hyperarousal behavior.  In addition, they may overlook their children's anxieties or symptoms because they are preoccupied..." 

Researchers "suggested that family and interpersonal relationships are closely linked to the development, maintenance, and improvement of PTSD, and thus concluded that significant others should be either formally, through intervention involvement, or informally, through psychoeducation, included in the treatment plan."

From Gidron, Y. (2001). Translating Research Findings to PTSD Prevention:  Results of a Randomized-Controlled Pilot Study.  Journal of Traumatic Stress, 14(4):

Researchers showed that "an increasingly organized description of their trauma was associated with a better prognosis"