How Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Affects Writing and Learning: What Neuroscience Suggests About the Memoir Assignment

Alterations in perception of perpetrator, including
- Preoccupation with relationship with perpetrator (includes preoccupation with revenge)
- Unrealistic attribution of total power to perpetrator (Caution: victim’s assessment of power realities may be more realistic than clinician’s)
- Idealization or paradoxical gratitude
- Sense of special or supernatural relationship
- Acceptance of belief system or rationalizations of perpetrator
Alterations in relations with others, including
- Isolation and withdrawal
- Disruption in intimate relationships
- Repeated search for rescuer (may alternate with isolation and withdrawal)
- Persistent distrust
- Repeated failures of self-protection
Alterations in systems of meaning
- Loss of sustaining faith
- Sense of hopelessness and despair

Herman, J. L. (1997/1992). Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books-Harper/Collins. p. 121