RPG Research and PTSD
Regarding role-playing game research and post traumatic stress disorder...
RE: RPGs for Trauma & PTSD. As some here know, I've blogged on this topic, but also been hesitant to implement, somewhat somewhat here: http://rpgresearch.com/blog/intense-ptsd-class-yesterday ... So today, currently reading/listening to one of the 8 textbooks for this quarter, (Traumatic Stress - The Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, & Society by Bessel A. van der Kolk, Alexander C. McFarlane, and Lars Weisaeth, Editors) and this section caught my attention (though likely no surprise to those here) due to the close-cousin potential related components between some portions of psychodrama and RPGs,
"...Problems caused by reliance on action instead of symbolic representation are also common in traumatized adolescents...." "Prone to action, and deficient in words, these patients can often express their internal states more articulately in physical movements or in pictures than in words. Utilizing drawings and psychodrama may help them develop a language that is essential for effective communication and for the symbolic transformation that can occur in psychotherapy. Group psychotherapy may also be effective in providing them both with (inter)action and with borrowed words to express emotional states."
Replace references to dramatherapy and psychotherapy with "RPG Therapy", and the innate TRPG setting specifically with the emphasis on verbal interaction, description, etc. Just a thought as I'm trying to keep up with classwork (and juggling getting that presentation for Living Games ready too).