Heady theory for largest eruptions.

Healthy talk among Holocaust survivors 

There are two schools of thought among mental health workers concerning the treatment of people who have experienced a massive psychological trauma. Many contend that emotionally confronting the trauma will quell its devastating aftereffects. Others say the key to successful adjustment lies in learning to forget, rather than reexperience, traumatic events.

A recent study of survivors of World War II's Holocaust who now live in Israel lends support to the latter argument (SN: 7/1/89, p.4). But a report in the September-October PSYCHOMATIC MEDICINE suggests that talking candidly about past traumas may indeed boost the mood and physical health of Holocaust survivors.

Psychologist James W. Pennebaker of Southern Methodist University in Dallas and his colleagues recruited 33 Holocaust survivors who talked for one to two hours about their personal experiences during World War II. As the survivors spoke, researchers monitored electrical conductance levels in their skin. Previous studies of college students describing traumatic experiences in their lives indicate that lowered skin conductance reflects a person's ability to confront and openly discuss such events, Pennebaker says.

The Dallas researchers videotaped each interviews, and independent judges rated the degree of trauma expressed during every minute of the session.

Participants had endured a variety of Holocaust horrors, such as concentration camp imprisonment or witnessing the execution of family members.

Nine survivors showed a drop in skin conductance as they disclosed traumatic experiences. When contacted 14 months later, they reported a significant reduction in physical problems and physician visits since the interviews, as well as a more positive mood. These "high disclosers" readily showed emotion when describing their ordeals and said they had talked about the Holocaust with others prior to the interview.

In contrast, nine "low disclosers" displayed marked jumps in skin conductance while talking about traumatic events and reported the most physician visits for health problems during the follow-up period. They tended to keep their emotions in check while recounting Holocaust traumas and had largely refrained from discussing their past with others.

The remaining 15 subjects showed no link between skin conductance and trauma disclosure. Their subsequent measures of physical health and mood slightly improved, falling between those of the high and low disclosers.

Although dredging up the Holocaust memories of "low disclosers" may have contributed to later health problems, Pennebaker notes, the same subjects reported finding the interview the most psychologically helpful. "this was the first time they had confronted their past," he says. "After the interview they were able to talk more openly about their traumas with family and friends."

In the previously conducted Israeli study, well-adjusted Holocaust survivors often could not remember dreaming and recalled few Holocaust-related memories while awake. Researchers who conducted that study say massive unconscious repression of the entire Holocaust experience apparently served these individuals well.

Pennebaker disagrees. "I'd predict the well-adjusted Israeli survivors talked about their Holocaust experiences with others many years ago and largely resolved the trauma," he says. "Thus, it's easier for them not to think about the Holocaust now. They're probably high disclosers."

A major gap exists in all students of trauma survivors, Pennebaker adds. Researchers do not know whether, prior to their tribulations, survivors had personality characteristics well- or ill-suited to dealing with stress and trauma.