Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of therapeutic writing on mental health and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in alcoholics' families. Ten alcoholics' family members were recruited from a Counseling Center for Alcoholics in Seoul, and seven of those were completed the writing session. The participants were asked to write about their traumatic events for 20 minutes in series of 3 days. Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL-90-R) and PTSD Symptom Scale Interview-self report version (PSSI-R) were completed both before the initial session and after the last session. The data from six wives and a daughter who completed the three writing sessions were analysed. All of nine sub-dimensions of SCL-90-R was improved after writing, and five of those were statistically significant: Obsessive-compulsive (p=.012), Interpersonal sensitivity (p=.007), Depression (p=.026), Anxiety (p=.011), Paranoid Ideation (p=.009). Although participants had moderate PTSD symptoms (11.43⁑6.92), there was no statistically significant improvement in PTSD symptoms after writing. These results showed that the therapeutic writing can be beneficial to the alcoholics' families to improve mental health. Also, this suggests that alcoholics' families need to be considered in the aspects of traumatic stress. (Korean J Str Res 2006;14:203∼210)

• Keywords: Therapeutic writing, Mental health, PTSD, Alcoholic's family;