It seems a bit paradoxical that the very act of attempting to talk about trauma might actually trigger trauma, and turn out to be "too much" for the traumatized person to handle, but this can be the case, according to Belleruth Naparstek, in her well-regarded book, "Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal." She writes:
"This is because with PTSD, language can be a trap. If a deeply traumatized person is prompted only to speak and think about the events that created his distress, without enlisting help from the imaginative, emotional, sensory and somatic capabilities of his right brain, his symptoms can actually get worse instead of better. Encouragement to "talk about it" -- a therapist's and, for that matter, a good friend's stock-in-trade -- can catalyze a tailspin of flashbacks, nightmares and overwhelming anxiety."
Clearly, we're just scratching the surface here of a much larger topic. But while the case can be made that listening to another deeply is often quite therapeutic, having to talk about (relive) something traumatizing might have adverse effects.
