Abstract
Traumatic Experiences can be Distanced by Narrative Means
Author(s): Kirsimarja Alatalo*This pilot study found out how distancing traumatic experiences through writing and narrative means can promote people's psychological well-being and help to let go of traumatic memories. Chose 12 writers of different ages from the contacts to the writing group based on the newspaper announcement. The selection criteria used were: a) the opportunity to commit to the group for its entire duration, b) previous experience as a writer and c) life-impairing trauma for which you wanted help. The meetings used writing, reading the written texts aloud and discussing the written texts. Received qualitative information about the improvement of the authors' well-being and the primary result was increased resources. The authors reported that their psychological and social well-being improved, their strong emotional outbursts and depression decreased and their social activity increased significantly after they started writing fiction about their trauma. They were satisfied that they had been chosen for the group and that they had dared to join. Distancing traumatic experiences through narrative means was feasible and gave promising results. Preliminary data on its effectiveness show that it would be good to conduct more similar studies. The qualitative data show that the writers liked the group writing exercises and the instructor's strong intervention. They accepted the methods used and committed to the group for its entire duration.