Study explores healing effects of written word

A new study at Duke will look at whether writing about past experiences is therapeutic for trauma survivors.

"There has been recent interest in writing and expressing traumatic experiences in narrative," said lead researcher and psychology graduate student Elizabeth Krause. "Only a few of the writing studies that have been published, though, have used clinical samples."

The writing sessions, which are held in the Duke Psychology Clinic for an hour once a week for three weeks, just started and will continue for a year. The sessions are open to people who have a history of childhood sexual abuse-mistreatment before the age of 18-and who have received psychotherapy for at least three months.

"We are looking at the process of writing over the three-week period to see if the narratives change," said Krause. "[The responses] will give us a better understanding of people's emotions when describing a past traumatic experience."

The test subjects are asked to write about emotions relating to their abuse. The study, which is funded by an Arts and Sciences Research Council Grant, will not only perform qualitative analyses of the individuals' responses, but will also evaluate psychological symptoms.

"This study is unique because it's very focused; it will help us understand the ways in which expression of meaning in dealing with traumatic experiences for survivors can be used for treatment," said Dr. Susan Roth, professor of psychology and department chair. "I think writing does have some therapeutic potential because it focuses people on the task of articulating how they understand a traumatic experience."

Krause is also interested in gender differences. "We're trying to collect narratives from both men and women and look at differences in their descriptions of traumatic experiences. Such differences could improve how we approach and treat male and female survivors," she said.

Although researchers are not entirely sure of the sessions' potential, they are hopeful. "Processes that draw upon more evocative, metaphoric or imaginative ways of communicating 'unspeakable' experiences... are now, although belatedly, being researched empirically," Dr. Ron Batson, director of the Duke Psychology Clinic, wrote in an e-mail.