This study was conducted by Lucy M. Kenny, Richard A. Bryant, Derrick Silove, Mark Creamer, Meaghan O’Donnell, and Alexander C. McFarlane. The study claims that “adopting an observer perspective to recall trauma memories may function as a form of avoidance that maintains post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” There were 1,166 participants in this study who were recent trauma survivors and had been admitted to any of the four major trauma hospitals in any of the three Australian cities as a result of traumatic injury. The participants experienced a physical injury that required hospital admission of at least 24 hours, they were able to comprehend interview questions without the use of an interpreter, they were between the ages of 18 and 65 years old, they had no greater than mild traumatic brain injury, and they received no diagnoses of organic mental disorder or psychosis.
The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale or CAPS was used to assess the symptoms experienced since the trauma at the initial interview, and within the previous month at the 12 month interview. Participants were asked questions about if when they think back on what happened to them if they see it through their own eyes or if they see it from the point of view as an onlooker or bystander. The participants were approached in the hospital after they were medically stable 1-42 days after their admission and asked about their initial memory vantage point and 12 months later were asked over the telephone about their trauma memory vantage point. The overall results from the study demonstrated a relationship between memory vantage point and PTSD symptoms. The findings in the study support the proposal that recalling a traumatic event from an observer vantage point is associated with weaker post-trauma recovery. By recalling the trauma from an observer vantage point may prevent adequate processing of the traumatic experience which hinders the ability to mentally heal from it.
For this study the researchers used the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale which is a structured interview designed to assess the frequency and severity of all symptoms of PTSD within the last month. Participants were interviewed about their vantage point when recalling the traumatic event they experienced. The specific guidelines for participants as stated earlier were they had to have experienced a physical injury that required a hospital admission of at least 24 hours, they had to be able to comprehend interview questions without the aid of an interpreter, they needed to be between the ages of 18 and 65 years old, they could not have anything greater than mild traumatic brain injury, and they should have no diagnoses of an organic mental disorder or psychosis.
I believe the methods used in this study were the best option to get the needed results. By interviewing the participants with PTSD and asking them how they remember the event and then seeing how they healed from the trauma based on what point of view they remember the event in is a well structured study and provides reasonable results. I have never suffered from a traumatic event and do not personally know someone who has, but I have read many articles and studies about people with post traumatic stress disorder and I really do believe the way the victims remember the incident plays a big role in the way they will recover. When the victim can recognize that the traumatic event is something that happened to them and can remember it from their own point of view, they will be able to heal from it.
