Avoidance Does Not Help

Given the recent post I made about the power of shame to lead people to all sorts of behavioral problems, I wasn’t at all surprised to find a recent study that claims that kids who talk about their abuse and neglect are less likely to suffer from PTSD.

A Penn State researcher finds an interesting differential among kids who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of child abuse, and those who did not.

Chad Shenk, Ph.D., and his research team found that adolescent girls who experienced maltreatment in the past year and were willing to talk about their painful experiences, their thoughts and emotions, were less likely to have PTSD symptoms one year later.

So that tactic of not talking about and telling kids to put it behind them and move forward and forget it? Yeah, not so good.