Psychoeducation is an important part of trauma therapy and recovery, offering a foundation for understanding and healing. It equips people with insights into the neurobiological and psychological impacts of trauma, fostering self-awareness.
By understanding the complex and verified effects of trauma survivors are empowered to gain tools to navigate triggers, regulate emotions, release guilt, shame and self-judgement, and rebuild a sense of safety in their bodies.
Through psychoeducation, therapists share crucial information that can empower survivors to reclaim agency and alleviate the confusion and distress caused by their trauma symptoms.
Psychoeducation dismantles stigma, normalising responses to trauma, as well as fostering a supportive therapeutic alliance, vital for recovery. In embracing knowledge, individuals embark on a transformative journey, unravelling the complexities of trauma and paving the way for healing and resilience.
What Is Psychoeducation?
Psychoeducation is the process of offering targeted, research-based information, skills, or therapeutic perspectives with the aim of helping those seeking mental health support to better understand or deal with specific challenges.
It is also sometimes offered to families, and groups to help them better understand and support those in their close circles or wider communities.
Social Media, Psychoeducation, and Misinformation
In the digital age, social media profoundly influences our identity exploration, providing a platform for self-presentation and interaction, particularly for adolescents but increasingly for adults of all ages too. As online engagement surges, averaging 87 minutes daily, social media becomes a double-edged sword.
A subculture revolving around mental illness has emerged, where embracing psychiatric identities may garner peer support and excuse young people and teenagers in particular from responsibilities, offering a seemingly attractive and unique identity that provides distinct social capital.
The allure of diagnosis can often result in self-diagnosis, fueled by inaccurate information disseminated through platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The phenomenon of social contagion, spreading mental health attitudes and behaviours online, presents a concerning trend with increasing numbers of people self-diagnosing with a wide range of conditions such as dissociative identity disorder (DID), bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD.[1]
Clinicians have since been grappling with the phenomenon of sharply increased self-identification with psychiatric conditions, prompting the need for careful assessment and consideration of the role social media plays in shaping perceptions and behaviours.
This also presents a challenge for psychoeducation. Psychiatric language, particularly buzzwords like trauma, hyperfixation, and dissociation, has diluted the significance and complexity of psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms. One study found that 84% of mental health advice videos on TikTok were inaccurate.[2] This makes accurate and empowering psychoeducation even more important in the case of trauma therapy.
Types of Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation can come in many forms. Information can be shared verbally, or resources can be provided such as worksheets and flyers. Additionally, interactive workshops and group sessions facilitate dynamic discussions, encouraging participants to share experiences and learn collectively.
Beyond traditional formats, multimedia resources, including videos and podcasts, enhance engagement and cater to diverse learning preferences. Tailoring psychoeducation to cultural or religious nuances fosters a wider understanding of ideas that may have complex historical perspectives, and diverge from the typical medical model of health that we adopt in Europe.
For instance, when providing psychoeducation about mental health in a community with strong religious beliefs, incorporating spiritual perspectives and aligning therapeutic concepts with religious teachings can enhance resonance and acceptance. In some cultures, mental health might be perceived through a holistic lens, intertwining physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Recognising and respecting these cultural nuances ensures that psychoeducation aligns with local values, making it more relatable and applicable.
Self-help books, psychological texts and informative websites further empower individuals to explore topics independently, and delve into their learnings in the therapeutic space.
Benefits of Psychoeducation for Trauma Survivors
For many, the short and long-term effects of trauma can be difficult to understand, causing confusion, distress and shame. Many survivors don’t realise their symptoms are a result of unprocessed trauma for years, or even decades. Without understanding the root of certain behaviours, emotional responses, and internal experiences, survivors are often left feeling broken, flawed and alone, with attempts to alleviate symptoms resulting in further disappointment and frustration.
Studies have shown that psychoeducational intervention has an effect on people’s beliefs about the malleability of mental health problems, offering a more optimistic perspective on overcoming trauma.[3] Trauma symptoms are a result of a deep, unconscious instinct to stay alive. Survivors respond to therapy better when they recognise that the often debilitating symptoms they experience are testimony to their strength and biological will to stay alive.
This lens highlights a profound dedication to survival at the heart of symptoms that appear to be driving a survivor away from life, or at least a life of safety, comfort and stability. Acknowledging this facilitates a shift in the weight of shame, guilt, self-loathing, and regret, moving these burdens away from despair and redirecting the focus towards the recognition, and even appreciation of life-affirming resources.[4]
In trauma therapy, psychoeducation plays a pivotal role in empowering individuals to understand and navigate their traumatic experiences. One essential concept often explained is the window of tolerance, derived from Polyvagal Theory. This metaphorical window represents the optimal arousal range within which a person can effectively process emotions and engage in daily activities. Psychoeducation on the window of tolerance helps clients recognise when they are within this range or when they might be entering states of hyperarousal or hypoarousal.
Polyvagal Theory also emphasises the importance of understanding the nervous system states—ventral vagal, sympathetic, and dorsal vagal—which influence responses to stress and trauma. Psychoeducation on these states provides clients with a framework to identify their physiological reactions and recognise how trauma dysregulates their nervous system.
For instance, recognising signs of hyperarousal, such as increased heart rate or hypervigilance, enables individuals to implement self-regulation techniques to bring themselves back into their window of tolerance. Further expanding on this, targeted psychoeducation can support survivors in tailoring coping strategies to the activated state. For people who chronically freeze, dissociate and ‘shut down’, regular relaxation strategies – such as sitting still and breathing or meditating – will not activate the part of the nervous system needed to return to the ‘rest and digest’ state which is the most comforting and relaxing.
Gentle movement, cold water on the skin, and tapping the body are all helpful in managing dissociation, freeze and shutdown, whereas deep, long exhales can be calming and settling during sympathetic nervous system activation.
Understanding the mechanisms for this, as well as specific coping mechanisms, helps immensely in trauma recovery, helping survivors to identify the right strategies, and activate the necessary components of the vagus nerve, to find a state of relaxation and regulation when faced with stress and triggers.
Sources:
[1] Paul Weigle, M. (May 8, 2023). Psychoeducation or psychiatric contagion? social media and self-diagnosis. Psychiatric Times. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychoeducation-or-psychiatric-contagion-social-media-and-self-diagnosis
[2] How accurate is mental health advice on TikTok? PlushCare. November 18, 2022. Accessed February 1, 2024. https://plushcare.com/blog/tiktok-mental-health/
[3] Whitworth JD. The Role of Psychoeducation in Trauma Recovery: Recommendations for Content and Delivery. J Evid Inf Soc Work. 2016 Sep-Oct;13(5):442-51. doi: 10.1080/23761407.2016.1166852. Epub 2016 Apr 27. PMID: 27120103.
[4] Gertel Kraybill, O. (2021, March 31). Psychoeducation in trauma-focused psychotherapy. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/expressive-trauma-integration/202103/psychoeducation-in-trauma-focused-psychotherapy