Narratives of trauma

Narratives are the way in which we make sense of the world and of our experiences, but when something senseless happens, how do we cope?  How do individuals understand and narrate highly stressful and traumatic events, and does it matter how these kinds of experiences are recalled?  In a series of studies, we examine how individuals narrate stressful, traumatic and challenging experiences, and how these narratives are related to psychological health. We examine this in college students, community samples, and in individuals with specific types of trauma histories.

College students

In a series of studies, we ask college students to tell us the most traumatic experience they have had, as well as highly positive experiences. To put this in context, national samples indicate that about 65 to 80% of college students have experienced a significant traumatic event by the time they arrive at college. We are interested in finding out how these kinds of experiences may influence how students adjust and adapt. Overall, we are finding that more coherent narratives, narratives that tell a story with a clear beginning, middle and end, and that express personal growth that emerged from the experience, or resolve the experience in a positive way, is related to lower levels of stress and depression. But different people cope in different ways. Individuals who are secure in their personal relationships are better able to use traumatic experiences to explore and create meaning than are individuals who have anxious social relationships.

Community samples

Jordan A. Booker, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Family Narratives Lab is examining how individuals from the community narrate events that are challenging for the self, such as a time that you harmed someone or that someone harmed you, as well as more positive challenging experiences. For more information on Jordan’s research, check out his ResearchGate and Google Scholar Pages!

Traumatized populations

Unfortunately, many people experience significant trauma, and relations between narrating these experiences and psychological health may be different for individuals who have experienced many traumatic events, or specific types of traumatic events. We have studied children coping with chronic illness, including cancer and moderate to severe asthma, children and adults who have experienced a severe natural disaster, such as hurricanes and tornados, adult women who experienced childhood sexual abuse, as well as adolescents and adults who live in challenging inner city environments with long standing difficult circumstances. Our current projects are examining individuals immediately following a traumatic incident, and exploring how the narratives change over time and predict coping and recovery. In general, we confirm that being able to create a more coherent narrative that expresses some form of personal growth is linked to higher levels of recovery.