Meaning reconstruction 70 years later: Processing older adults' unfinished business in a drama therapy group.

Unfinished business (UB), when individuals appraise their relationship with others or themselves as incomplete or unresolved, entails difficult emotions such as regret, remorse, and guilt. UB is often associated with bereavement and is considered to be a predictor of complicated grief. Here we report two case studies describing the processing of the sudden death of a significant other in the context of a randomized controlled study of 12-week drama therapy groups for older adults. The intervention followed the format of Playback Theater, an improvised form of theater based on personal stories, and a life review paradigm. A mixed-methods approach explored the course of individual therapy within the group and potential mechanisms of change. The participants completed mental health questionnaires in a pre-post-follow-up design. The qualitative data included video recordings and postintervention interviews. One participant reported a clinically significant (CS) change in depressive symptoms and psychological well-being on the post and follow-up measurement indices. The second reported a CS change in self-esteem and relationship satisfaction at the end of the intervention, but not at follow-up. The findings suggest that the drama therapy contributed to the resolution of UB through restorative work in the three domains defined in meaning reconstruction theory: the "event story" of the loss, the "back story" of the relationship with the deceased, and the "personal story" of self. The results point to the need for additional research on meaning reconstruction in the context of drama therapy and encourage the broader application of performative techniques to treat complicated bereavement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Playback theatre in adult day centers: A creative group intervention for community-dwelling older adults.

The literature indicates that theatre and drama-based interventions have the potential to improve older adults' well-being and health. The goal of the current study was to characterize the process of a creative group intervention in adult day centers (ADCs), which integrates playback theatre and life-review principles. Our objective was to provide an evidence-informed framework for drama therapy interventions, which would allow older adults to bring up and explore their life-stories in a dramatic creative process in their own community. A total of 27 participants ranging in age from 63 to 91, took part in one of three playback theatre groups. The playback theatre group intervention comprised 12 weekly sessions. All sessions were videotaped to capture the lived experience of the creative process and were analyzed in post-intervention interviews. In addition, focus group meetings were conducted with 13 ADC staff members to decipher further the effects of the participation as perceived by people outside the groups. Three types of potential transformation were identified in the qualitative analysis: the evolution of life stories, evolution of playfulness, and expansion of social engagement. The results indicate the potential of the integrative framework to serve as a creative intervention in ADC communities, as well as its potential to bring about a personal transformation and expand it to enable a person's social engagement in the community. The findings imply the potential benefits of using playback theatre groups to supplement the routine care provided in ADCs.

When the human spirit helps? The moderating role of somatization on the association between Olympic game viewing and the will-to-live.

This study examined whether participants with low somatization (no bodily manifestations of anxiety) who are assumed to identify with- and be inspired- by the Olympic-Games-spirit will present a stronger association between their Olympic-game viewing hours and their will-to-live, than persons with high somatization. One hundred and thirty seven participants reported their daily Olympic-game viewing hours, somatization and will-to-live levels. Results show that while among those with low somatization symptoms level, the relationships between Olympic game viewing hours and will-to-live was positive, the opposite was found among those with high somatization symptoms level. Viewing the Olympic Games may be beneficial for individuals with low somatization level but less so to individuals with higher somatization.

Life-crossroads on stage: integrating life review and drama therapy for older adults.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the contribution of a new group of therapeutic interventions for older adults, based on a rudimentary life-review intervention. The intervention includes narrative elements together with drama therapy. The current study examines the influence of this therapeutic intervention on key indicators of mental health and psychological well-being among older adults. METHOD: Fifty-five people (n = 55), ranging in age from 62 to 93, participated in a before-after study design. The following indices - meaning in life, self-acceptance, relationships with others, depressive symptoms, and experience of successful aging - were compared between an intervention group (n = 27) and a care-as-usual control group (n = 28). RESULTS: Repeated measures analyses of variance showed a significant improvement over time in the experimental group. In addition, results also showed time-group interaction regarding the treatment's effectiveness for self-acceptance, relationships with others, sense of meaning in life, sense of successful aging, and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm that the new therapeutic intervention, which integrates life-review with drama therapy, increases self-acceptance, relationships with others, sense of meaning in life, and sense of successful aging; in turn, it also decreases depressive symptoms among older adults. The contribution of this research is based on the development of a therapeutic intervention that combines narrative together with drama therapy tools, which can be used in focused and short-term group treatments with the elderly.

How Do Meaning in Life and Positive Affect Relate to Adaptation to Stress? The Case of Firefighters Following the Mount Carmel Forest Fire.

BACKGROUND: We examined how positive affect (PA) and meaning in life (MIL) conjointly regulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and perceived coping self-efficacy. Hypotheses were guided by a recent holistic model, according to which PA and MIL should compensate for each other in relating to adaptation to high stress. METHOD: The sample included 75 Israeli firefighters who took active part in extinguishing the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire. RESULTS: PA and MIL helped to compensate for the other, demonstrating that when one of them was low, the other related to higher adaptation. That is, under low MIL, PA related to PTSD symptoms and coping self-efficacy, and under low PA, MIL related to PTSD symptoms and coping self-efficacy. LIMITATION: The study design was cross-sectional and therefore precluded any causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: The findings lend additional support to the holistic model and help to understand how subjective well-being and MIL correlate with adaptation to stress.

Psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians during the Gaza War: a repeated cross-sectional study.

Research regarding psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians during armed conflict is scarce. The current study compared psychosomatic symptoms of exposed and unexposed hospital physicians in two studies. The studies were conducted during 2009 and included a survey of two random samples of hospital physicians, one conducted during the Gaza War and the other conducted six months later. Each sample included hospital physicians who were directly exposed to war related stress and others who were not (Study 1: N = 54; Study 2: N = 31). In Study 1, exposed hospital physicians did not differ from unexposed physicians in the level of psychosomatic symptoms during the war (Psychosomatic Problems Scale 6.48 vs 4.09). However, in Study 2, exposed physicians reported a higher level of psychosomatic symptoms (10.33 vs 3.21). Moreover, analysis of covariance revealed a significant interaction effect of Exposure X Study (F = 7.976; p = .006; ?p2 = .100). Exposure to war-related stress takes a toll on psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians. This late onset of psychosomatic symptoms is discussed in light of the cognitive-energetical model.

Pre-Traumatic Vaccination Intervention: can dissociative symptoms be reduced?

The Pre-Traumatic Vaccination Intervention (PTV) has been developed in an attempt to help rescue personnel cope with anticipated and non-anticipated disasters, and to prevent trauma-related mental disorders during and after a traumatogenic exposure. Contrary to the generally accepted approach of treating trauma after it has occurred, the PTV has been designed to be administered prior to the potentially traumatic event. Based on empirical findings, the PTV training techniques were designed to prepare the participants for distressful situations. Trainees were gradually exposed to increasingly severe sights using cognitive-behavioral techniques along with foreseen situations relating to their profession. Various interventions were aimed at normalizing using personal resources and implementing relaxation techniques. The PTV was administrated as part of the Israeli Defense Forces rescue personnel's and military police training courses. The results of an uncontrolled, preliminary study suggest that the intervention reduced the level of dissociation leading to more awareness to the traumatic event's details, less suffering, lower probability of making mistakes, and increased likelihood of returning to normal functioning. Lower dissociation may suggest a lower probability to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder among rescue personnel.