Using Poetry to Treat Trauma: A Group Approach
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the arts in creating the supportive social movements that permit trauma to have a voice and the voice to be heard, believed, remembered and respoken." -- Dr. Jonathan Shay, author of Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
War and national disaster harm everyone they touch. Trauma robs us of our humanity; poetry can be a vehicle to bring us back to it. The emerging field of trauma studies has uncovered two essential experiences all trauma victims must undertake to recover from their ordeal: creative self-expression and membership in community. Trauma survivors must be allowed to tell the truth about their experiences, and members of the sufferer's community must be encouraged to listen, to remember, and to repeat the story to others.
Virginia Woolf said that the moments of profound insight that come from writing about our soulful, thoughtful examination of psychic wounds should be called "shocks", for they force us into an awareness about ourselves and our relationships to others and our place in the world. The writing process contains tremendous potential, both for healing and for cultivating the quality of absorption. Writing also regularly fosters resilience - a quality that enables people subjected to trauma and disaster to thrive despite their experiences. The process through which poetry leads to healing is quite simple, yet undeniably profound. This is because honest expression opens the door to insight, clarity and understanding. There is also an additional dimension of healing when these activities are undertaken in community.
There has been a recent upsurge in the public interest for medical narrative. These stories are about the failure of control and the threat of extinction. They enable us to think about the value socity places on a human life, about the meaning of pain, the definition of the person, and our attitudes toward choice, chance, and the death of the individual. However, far less research has been placed on using narrative, and specifically poetry in this case, as a clnical tool to promote healing, self-understanding, and in building valuable connection. Poetry reminds us of the uncertainty we live with and it allows one to make meaning of that uncertainty. This presentation will describe the many uses of poetry and its importance and relevance during national disasters.
The format of the presentation will be twofold. It will present findings from the Poetry and Trauma group I have conducted at the Women's Health Project, a clinic for women with PTSD in New York City. In addition, it will describe how to run such groups for people who have lived through disasters and traumas. The approach will be active and participatory and will include specific approaches, lesson plans, poetry used, and examples of patients' work.