Healing processes in trauma narratives: A review

Abstract

Re-tellings of the trauma story are a standard component of most current therapeutic interventions with trauma survivors. However, the exact therapeutic processes whereby trauma narratives may facilitate change are not always clearly explicated in the literature. In order to identify these processes, a review was conducted of the published literature on those psychotherapeutic interventions for trauma that centralise the role of the trauma narrative in the recovery process. The review indicates that six therapeutic processes have consistently been proposed through which producing a trauma narrative as part of the therapy process may facilitate recovery from post-trauma pathology: emotional catharsis; the creation of linguistic representation; the habituation of anxiety; empathic witnessing of injustice; developing an explanatory account; and the identification of purpose and value in adversity. The role of the therapist during the trauma re-telling may differ in important ways, depending on the specific therapeutic process that the therapist and client are concerned with at a particular point in therapy. The implications for trauma counsellors, and for future research, are discussed. © Psychological Society of South Africa. All rights reserved.