Can Shakespeare be a treatment for posttraumatic stress in military veterans? This is the question that our research team has been examining through the empirical investigation of the DE-CRUIT program. DE-CRUIT uses Shakespeare’s verse to help veterans with the articulation, sharing and processing of trauma. In this article, we focus specifically on the therapeutic process of the program that involves various modes of aesthetic distance in combination with mimetic induction, a treatment technique in which fictionalized narrative reflects the real-life experience of trauma. After describing that process, we illustrate these various intersecting therapeutic components through the case of ‘D.’, a military veteran who took part in DE-CRUIT after many years of living with a secret, non-disclosed trauma.
Despite advances in the treatment of PTSD and related problems in military veterans, these problems persist and often become debilitating for veterans and devastating for their families. It is thus necessary for health researchers to examine alternatives to mainstream psychiatric approaches for veterans, including arts-based approaches that can demonstrate psychological healing. In this article, we outline some of the psychotherapeutic benefits of the DE-CRUIT programme. This programme integrates the use of theatre with empirically proven elements of cognitive processing therapy, narrative therapy and breathing-based relaxation techniques to treat the effects of both military and non-military trauma in veterans. We describe these benefits through the illustrative case of a veteran who experienced recurrent trauma in childhood and in his military service. We outline recommendations for the expansion of research on arts-based treatments for veterans across mental health settings and community settings.
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