Friday, June 13

Health - ninemsn.com.au

New research has found that, contrary to popular belief, bottling up your feelings after a traumatic event is better for you than 'letting it all out'.


Interesting that only now it has been validated by 'men in white coats' is the desire not to talk about bad things happening is seen as okay ... how the wheel turns! WW1 veterans returned and either could not or were not encouraged to talk about what had happened. Their sons in WW2 were more vocal in constructing the myth of their valour (all the movies helped, no doubt). Their grandsons in Korea and Vietnam finally started speaking out when they needed to though years down the track ... and now, their great-grandchildren are trying to work out why.

I don't think that it is actually the talk/not-talk dichotomy that is the problem. It's just that after a trauma, some people need to talk it out immediately, others need to think about it first, while others will stew before exploding. It's spotting those differences and working out and making it acceptable to ask for help to deal with those memories, especially for those who might explode later, that is needful.

It is never as clear cut as sometimes news reports would seem to paint it. Being traumatised is a messy business, it would therefore follow that healing from it would also be a messy business too.

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