An exercise in story repair: A guided written disclosure protocol for fostering narrative completeness of traumatic memories.

The present study sought to build on the large body of past research into written disclosure of traumatic memories. This research has consistently found that participants who write about their traumatic experiences realize long-term physiological and psychological health benefits. More recently, it has been found that those participants who realize the most benefits are those who progressively include more elements of a good narrative, or story, in their writing about a traumatic experience over several sessions. Therefore, research has begun to examine the role of language and the structure of language in the health benefits gained from written disclosure of traumatic memories. A guided written disclosure protocol was designed for the present study, which sought to aid participants in supplying an increasing amount of narrative structure to their written disclosures of a single traumatic experience. Participants (N = 30) completed several measures of psychological and physiological health prior to and one month after completing the guided written disclosure protocol. Analyses revealed that participants who completed all four writing sessions showed statistically significant reductions in symptoms of general psychological distress, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and intrusive and avoidant symptoms related to the traumatic experience. No significant self-reported physiological health benefits were found. The clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed.