Psychologist: Venting about a trauma not always healthy

Psychologist: Venting about a trauma not always healthy
by Susan Brink - Aug. 5, 2008 12:00 AM
Los Angeles Times
"The more (Virginia Tech students) can talk about what they've lived through, the more that they can be encouraged to emote . . . that gives them some security and insulation against burying those feelings and then having them surprise them later in life."

- Keith Ablow, psychiatrist, on NBC's Today, April 17, 2007

In the aftermath of the massacre of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, Ablow was simply voicing post-Freudian conventional wisdom: When something horrible happens, vent.

None of this negates the value of talk therapy or of expressing thoughts and emotions when it feels right. But the new research suggests wide use of clinical techniques proven to help in some situations - such as a couple in marital trouble or a depressed person exploring emotions with a therapist - has gotten ahead of the evidence on the best course of mental-health care after a disaster.

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The key is to be there if they want to vent, talk, cry and give them the ability to do it. If you force them, it doesn't do much good at all.