Indeed, in good clinical and epidemiological research it is precisely this kind of complex interplay

that is the focus of the work. Scientific data can, for example, be used to justify medical resources for those who suffer from psychiatric symptoms, without losing sight of the resilience people show in the face of adverse circumstances and the need for appropriate sociopolitical interventions. Do trauma interviews retraumatize the individual? In one model of the mind, favored by early psychoanalysts, psych opathology results when suppressed impulses appear in a disguised form. In this model, expression of these impulses resolves the unconscious conflict, and is therefore cathartic. Indeed, many programs Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for the treatment of PTSD insist that patients verbalize their past traumas,

explaining that this articulation is in and of itself therapeutic.21 Pennebaker and colleagues have published a series of studies suggesting that disclosure of trauma, even if only in writing, is therapeutic.22,23 Relatively simple interviews in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Holocaust survivors,24 as well as more complex forms of “testimony psychotherapy,”25 have been found beneficial. Later psychodynamic models of the mind, however, have emphasized the importance of the relationships on which psychopathology and psychotherapy are based. Certainly, therapeutic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical reprocessing of traumatic Bcl-2 activation experience is more complex than simply talking about past trauma; there is also a need for restructuring of the emotional memories and acquisition of new and adaptive responses.26,27 Similarly, testimony Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is arguably effective

only within certain contexts; talking about trauma mayonly be useful at a particular time for a particular individual, and it may be countertherapeutic to encourage the traumatized person to relate his or her story when time and/or context are inappropriate. Debate about the value of the TRC Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical exemplifies some of these issues. On the one hand, there were many anecdotal reports that those who testified before the TRC found this a healing experience.28 The historical significance of the event possibly facilitated a therapeutic process. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that there were also significant negative aspects, including most sometimes having to face cross-examination, not receiving long-term psychological care, and not receiving reparations in a timely fashion. Certainly, we would warn that people who suffer from PTSD may require a great deal more than merely the one-off opportunity to testify about their experience.29 In the research setting, interviews about psychological trauma typically comprise ratings scales and structured interviews. In our anecdotal experience, research subjects who complete realms of self-rating scales often have ambivalent feelings, experiencing many of these as inapplicable or inaccurate.