Hey there

I've been reading something in my Psych studies and it's puzzling me! I'd be interested to hear what fellow PTSD sufferers opinions are on the subject....

Before I start just a little of why this is big for me. I also have CFS, which I believe is because I'm useless at expressing emotions - a bottler from a very young age. I believe that when you're a massive bottler there comes a time when your body can't take any more and simply shuts down - CFS in my case. This may be completely wrong - just my current way of thinking.

What I was reading, was that they have done many studies in which they found that the more people talked about their stresses, upsets and sufferings the better their health. They stated that it works in two ways 1) disclosure improves your immune system and, 2) disclosure turns off the red alert system in your body and therefore increases your well being.

This is weird, because I've read elsewhere that for PTSD sufferers talking about what they went through can make it worse. Yet here are these studies showing the opposite????

In a simple non-triggering example they got people with arthritis to speak for 15mins every day into a tape recorder about what was currently upsetting/stressing them. They not only found that their arthritis improved but there was also a direct correlation between how much emotion they expressed and pain reduction.

What are your thoughts on this? Does talking about your trauma improve your physical/mental health over time or do you feel it makes it worse?

Thanks in advance to any of you who respond to my musings

Cheers 101