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When someone with PTSD shares their story with someone who can help them to document and compile it into a document or self-published book, their family and friends can read that story and understand their experiences. If the storyteller wishes to make their story public, others can read it as well.

When people read a life story or memoir by a storyteller or writer who has been through traumatic experiences and who has PTSD, they learn what it’s like to live with PTSD, and (depending on what the storyteller has included in their story) the experiences that led up to the person having PTSD. They may also learn a lot more about the storyteller, who may have lived a very  interesting life prior to their trauma and resulting PTSD.

If you have PTSD, sharing your story with others, by way of an easy-to-read document or self-published book, can enable you better live with PTSD. Sharing your story in this way can improve their emotional and mental wellbeing and improve your relationships with othe people who read it.

Also, self-publishing your own book gives you a massive boost of confidence.

Sharing your story is healing: what the evidence shows

Following are some links to articles that evidence how sharing your story, particularly in writing, can be healing for people who live with PTSD.

“Writing that heals: accepts our story and makes sense of it, explores honest feelings, uses words to heal, embraces a positive outlook …” For the full story, go to: Write to heal from trauma, loss and illness

“In the last 20 years, medical practice has increasingly recognized the importance of … “narrative medicine” to the patient’s healing … Telling our stories helps us heal. It releases some of the energy the experience created and begins to externalize the experience …. [A war veteran] said at one point, ‘I’ve never been able to make sense of my memories. But now, with your help, I see how the pieces fit.’ ” For the full story, go to: Can the simple act of storytelling help them heal?

“PTSD is marked by an inability to construct a coherent story of our past. Traumatic memory is like a series of still snapshots without music or words that reside in the right hemisphere of our brains. The left-side of the brain does the thinking. Emotional and cognitive disassociation between the two sides of the brain occurs during traumatic events. The part of the brain that is most impacted by traumatic events is the Broca, the center for speech …. Neuroscience tells us that memory is plastic and dynamic. When memories are reactivated we are presented with an opportunity to integrate the experience and thus heal it …. ” For the full story, go to: Storytelling, neuroscience, and healing trauma

“Confronting traumatic experiences is physically beneficial. It has long been assumed that inhibiting or repressing one’s feelings or thoughts negatively affects one’s health and can lead to long-term stress.” For the full story, go to: Evidence of the healing of expressive writing

For more articles about this topic go to:

• Story telling and life story writing, as a healing process
• Positive outcomes of documenting life stories for people with PTSD
• How to use your NDIS funds for typing, coaching, writing or editing support