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Are trauma narratives unique and do they predict psychological adjustment?
Author(s) -
Beaudreau Sherry A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20206
Subject(s) - narrative , psychology , psychological trauma , mental health , clinical psychology , posttraumatic stress , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , philosophy , linguistics
Community‐dwelling adults ( N = 104) aged 20‐ to 99‐years‐old told narratives about neutral, positive, and worst traumatic events; they also completed mental health questionnaires. Consistent with previous research, trauma narratives were longer, and contained more somatosensory and negative bodily experience detail. Recent trauma was associated with more somatosensory detail. Longer trauma narratives were associated with better psychological adjustment, whereas negative bodily experiences related to poorer psychological adjustment and more posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results provide some support for unique trauma narrative characteristics indicative of psychological adjustment among community‐dwelling adults.