“I write to understand as much as to be understood.”
– Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel, author of Night
Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a type of treatment
for PTSD that, according to the National Center for PTSD, “works by helping [a
person] approach trauma-related thoughts, feelings, and situations that [he or
she has] been avoiding due to the distress they cause. Repeated exposure to
these thoughts, feelings, and situations helps reduce the power they have to
cause distress help him comprehend and reconstruct the terrible traumas that he
has experienced—in a safe, controlled environment.”
Essentially, the idea behind this treatment is
that, when in a controlled environment—such as sitting on a comfy couch with a cup of tea and your journal—exposure to the stressful experiences
associated with a traumatic event can help to alleviate the symptoms of
post-traumatic stress.
What do you need to try to understand? Allow yourself to reduce
the distress it causes by returning to it through your writing in a safe,
controlled environment.
Lovely way to look at this. I often journal about things I am wrestling with, or seek to understand, but had not thought of my writing space in terms of it being a "safe, controlled environment". We're so blessed that we can say this is true!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Thank you for taking time to share your thoughts. Have a beautiful day, Jenny
ReplyDelete