‘We’re shifting perspectives’: Written exposure therapy offers patients new way to work through trauma
When revisiting trauma can be extremely challenging, a new treatment opportunity at Rogers is giving patients another way to learn and heal.
First a pilot last summer in West Allis, Written Exposure Therapy is now the protocol for all clinics offering PHP/IOP treatment.
Patients are asked to write about their trauma for about 30 minutes, with time for processing afterward, explains Jennifer Parra Nelsen, Clinical Services supervisor, Trauma Recovery Adult Residential & Fire Watch IOP.
“Patients don’t need to be good at writing,” Jennifer says. “The real intervention isn’t the outcome. The exposure work is staying engaged in the memory for 30 minutes.”
She says the format is designed to be easier for patients to tolerate while still giving them the opportunity to go over past traumas and understand them in a new way, with the aim of reducing PTSD symptoms over multiple sessions.
“We’re shifting perspectives,” Jennifer says. “Patients are often looking for ways they could have controlled the traumatic situation so they can prevent it from happening in the future. But we’re challenging a lot of the dysfunctional core beliefs that have come from these traumas by going back into the story, helping them understand that it wasn’t their fault.”
Written Exposure Therapy can help create some distance from a patient’s trauma, Jennifer says, either by writing in past tense or through the act of writing itself.
“If you can get it out of your head onto paper, it changes your relationship with that story,” Jennifer says. “There’s a bit more sense of control now.”
Written Exposure Therapy is relatively new compared to standard treatments such as prolonged exposure, but Jennifer says emerging evidence indicates Written Exposure Therapy is as effective as other forms of trauma therapy and offers benefits such as shorter session times and higher patient retention.
“It’s much more tolerable for patients,” Jennifer says. “It’s allowing more people to be able to do the work, especially those who have difficulty verbalizing their trauma or don’t feel comfortable talking with someone about it. Additionally, parents are doing it in a group setting, which can oftentimes remind people they’re not alone.”
Jennifer says Emily Golding, Clinical Services supervisor, PHP Trauma Recovery Adult; Michael Smith, therapist 2, Telehealth, IOP Veterans Adult; and Amanda Guiding, lead therapist, PHP Mental Health Recovery Adult, were driving forces behind getting Written Exposure Therapy up and running at Rogers.
