Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-mnl9s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-17T03:47:57.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Treatment of survivor guilt after trauma using imagery rescripting: a proof-of-concept study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2020

Hannah Murray ,
Evelina Medin  and
Gary Brown Open the ORCID record for Gary Brown [Opens in a new window]
Hannah Murray*
Affiliation:
Traumatic Stress Service, South West London and St Georges NHS Trust, Building 2, Springfield University Hospital, 61 Glenburnie Road, Tooting, London SW17 7DJ, UK
Evelina Medin
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
Gary Brown
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: hannah.murray@psy.ox.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Survivor guilt can arise after surviving a trauma in which others die. No studies have systematically investigated psychological treatment for survivor guilt. The present study was a proof-of-concept investigation of treatment of survivor guilt using imagery rescripting. Thirteen participants with post-traumatic stress disorder and self-reported survivor guilt attended two consecutive imagery therapy sessions, to first elaborate and then rescript related imagery. Significant improvements were observed on idiographic process measures of cognitons, emotions and distress related to survivor guilt following the rescripting session. The study provides preliminary evidence that imagery rescripting can be used as an experiential technique to treat survivor guilt.

Keywords

guiltimageryimagery rescriptingPTSDsurvivor guilttrauma

Information

Type
Brief Clinical Report
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 124 - 128
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

‡

Present address: Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma, University of Oxford, The Old Rectory, Paradise Square, Oxford OX1 1TW, UK.

§

Present address: Traumatic Stress Clinic, Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust, 4th Floor, West Wing, St Pancras Hospital, 4 St Pancras Way, London NW1 0PE, UK

References

Arntz, A. (2012). Imagery rescripting as a therapeutic technique: review of clinical trials, basic studies, and research agenda. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 3, 189–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, D. D., Weathers, F. W., Nagy, L. M., Kaloupek, D. G., Gusman, F. D., Charney, D. S., & Keane, T. M. (1995). The development of a Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 75–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foa, E. B. (1995). The Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) Manual. Minneapolis, USA: National Computer Systems.Google Scholar
Jacobson, N. S., & Truax, P. (1991). Clinical significance: a statistical approach to defining meaningful change in psychotherapy research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2001). The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16, 606–613.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, H. (2018). Survivor guilt in a UK clinical population. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 2, 600–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valent, P. (2000). Survivor guilt. In Fink, G. (ed), Encyclopedia of Stress. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wild, J., Hackmann, A., & Clark, D. M. (2008). Rescripting early memories linked to negative images in social phobia: a pilot study. Behavior Therapy, 39, 47–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Murray et al. supplementary material

Murray et al. supplementary material 1

Download Murray et al. supplementary material(File)
File 72.9 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Murray et al. supplementary material

Murray et al. supplementary material 2

Download Murray et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 267.5 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.