The Psychologist November 2012

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psychologist vol 25 no 11

november 2012

What doesn’t kill us…

Stephen Joseph on the silver lining of post-traumatic growth, and Ciarán O’Keeffe looks back on the ‘enabling trauma’ of the BBC’s Ghostwatch, 20 years on

Incorporating Psychologist Appointments £5 or free to members of The British Psychological Society

letters 794 news 802 big picture centre careers 848

rejection and the adolescent brain 820 the origins of human communication 824 ‘running’ an introductory module 828 interview: taking control of your space 830

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letters 794 engaging the public in psychology; on the road again; a moral abyss; and more

THE ISSUE

news and digest 802 in pursuit of awe; abuse definition; liberal bias; Kahneman warning; fanaticism debate; nuggets from the Society’s free Research Digest service; and more

Twenty years ago, myself and several fellow undergraduates were crammed in my room at Sorby Hall, University of Sheffield, to watch the BBC’s Halloween special, Ghostwatch. The set up was fairly ambiguous and many, including a couple of my more gullible friends, believed the supernatural events depicted were unfolding for real. In fact, Ghostwatch earned the dubious honour of being the first television programme to be cited in the British Medical Journal as having caused post-traumatic stress disorder in children. This month (see p.856), Ciarán O’Keeffe looks back at its legacy, talking to Ghostwatch creator Stephen Volk about the changing nature of what scares us, and the ‘enabling’ nature of trauma.

The ‘silver lining’ of posttraumatic growth is also the focus for Stephen Joseph’s article (p.816), where he concludes that ‘survivors have much to teach those of us who haven’t experienced such traumas about how to live’.

Also of note this month is the interview with Craig Knight (p.830), accompanied by our first-ever full audio at www.thepsychologist.org.uk if you prefer to listen!

Dr Jon Sutton

media 812 coverage of the Society’s Developmental Section conference, with Sinéad Rhodes; and Jon Sutton on the rise of ‘neurobollocks’

What doesn’t kill us…

Stephen Joseph discusses the psychology of post-traumatic growth

CLIVE CHILVERS

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Don’t leave me out!

Catherine Sebastian on her Doctoral Award winning research on rejection and the adolescent brain

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The origins of human communication Thomas C. Scott-Phillips on his Doctoral Award winning research on how we signal signalhood

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‘Running’ an introductory module Orla T. Muldoon and Aisling T. O’Donnell on a novel idea for your classroom

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Taking control of your space Jon Sutton meets Craig Knight to talk about identity and the design of our environments

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book reviews 834 failure; memoirs of an addicted brain; chasing lost times; life after trauma; and more society President’s column; Book Award

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848 careers and psychologist appointments working in residential care, with Cian Aherne and Noelle Fitzgerald; we talk to Jon White about working in public relations; plus the latest vacancies new voices 854 computer-generated exhibits on trial, with Gareth Norris, in the latest of our series for budding writers (see www.bps.org.uk/newvoices) looking back

856

Ciarán O’Keeffe marks the 20th anniversary of a notorious BBC Halloween special with a look at its legacy and links with psychology one on one

860

…with Jane Ogden

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DIGEST

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Do you underestimate your child’s worry?

It’s well established that parents frequently overestimate their children’s intelligence and the amount of exercise they get. Now a team led by Kristin Lagattuta has uncovered evidence suggesting that parents have an unrealistically rosy impression of their kiddies’ emotional lives too. It’s a finding with important implications for clinicians and child researchers who often rely on parental reports of young children’s psychological well-being.

It’s previously been assumed that children younger than seven will struggle to answer questions about their emotions. Undeterred, Lagattuta and her colleagues simplified the language used in a popular measure of older children’s anxiety and they developed a pictorial scoring system that involved the children pointing to rectangles filled with different amounts of colour.

Time was taken to ensure the child participants understood how to use the scale.

An initial study with 228 psychologically healthy children aged 4 to 11 from relatively affluent backgrounds found that the children’s answers to oral questions about their experience of worry (including general anxiety, panic, social phobia and separation anxiety) failed to correlate with their parents’ (usually the mother’s) written responses to questions about the children’s experience of worry. Specifically, the parents tended to underestimate how much anxiety their children experienced.

A second study was similar, but this time the researchers ensured the parents and children answered items that were worded in exactly the same way; the parents were reassured that it was normal for children to experience some negative emotion; and the parents were able to place their completed questionnaires in envelopes for confidentiality. Still the children’s answers about their own emotions failed to correlate with parents’ answers, with the parents again underestimating the amount of worry experienced by their children.

A revealing detail in this study was that parents also answered questions about their own emotions.

Their scores for their own emotions correlated with the answers they gave for their children’s experiences. ‘These data suggest that even parents from a low-risk, non-clinical sample may have difficulty separating their emotional perspective In the October issue of the Journal of from that of their child,’ the researchers said.

Experimental Child Psychology Finally, 90 more children aged 5 to 10 answered questions about their optimism, whilst their parents also answered questions about their own and their children's optimism. Again, parents’ and children’s verdicts on the children’s emotions failed to correlate, with the parents now overestimating their children’s experience of optimism. And once more, parents’ own optimism was related to how they interpreted their children’s optimism.

Lagattuta and her colleagues admitted that it’s theoretically possible that the children were the ones showing a distorted view of their own emotions, and it’s the parents who were painting the true picture. However, they think this is highly unlikely. For starters it’s revealing that parents underestimated their children’s negative emotion and yet over-estimated their positive emotion, which argues against the idea that the children were simply answering more conservatively, or giving systematically extreme answers in one direction. Moreover, the new findings fit with the wider literature showing how parents tend to have an unrealistically rosy impression of their children’s well-being. An obvious study limitation is the focus on middle-class US participants, so there is of course a need to replicate with people from other backgrounds and cultures.

‘From the standpoint of research and clinical practice, this mismatch between parent and child perceptions raises a red flag,’ the researchers concluded. ‘Internally consistent self-report data can be acquired from young children regarding their emotional experiences. Obtaining reports from multiple informants – including the child – needs to be the standard.’

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The price of anonymity In the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Thousands of psychology papers are based on data derived from questionnaires that were filled out anonymously. That’s because most psychologists have reasoned that the best way to get people to be honest about their practice of undesirable behaviours is to promise them anonymity. But in a new analysis, Yphtach Lelkes and his colleagues point out that anonymity comes with a price.

Participants will feel less accountable and may be less motivated to answer questions accurately.

To test this, Lelkes’ team devised a cunning methodology in which dozens of undergrads conducted internet research for what they thought was a study into the way that people search for information on the web.

After each student had spent 45 minutes researching the mountain pygmy-possum, a researcher made a show of deleting the student’s search history before their eyes, ostensibly to prevent the next participant from accessing the browser’s archives. In fact, a spyware programme was installed on the computer and kept track of all the sites visited.

After the research session, each student answered a questionnaire about their use of the internet in general and their experience of the internet research task, including which sites they’d searched. Crucially, half the students were instructed to fill out their name and other personal details at the top of the questionnaire; the

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others were told to leave it blank to ensure anonymity.

Students who answered the questionnaire anonymously admitted to more embarrassing internet behaviours, such as looking at porn, but with regard to their searches during the research task they answered with less accuracy. There was also evidence of a lack of variety in the answers to many of the anonymous students’ later answers, consistent with the idea that they were putting less thought into the questionnaires as they grew tired.

Two follow-up studies involved dozens more students having the opportunity to eat sweets while they completed questionnaires. A question at the end asked them to report how much they’d eaten and once again, students who answered anonymously were less accurate about how much they’d indulged. This was the case whether anonymity was promised before or after the opportunity to eat the snacks.

Lelkes and his colleagues were cautious about how far these findings can be generalised. For example, the same problems might not apply when people are interviewed face-to-face but promised confidentiality. However, they warned researchers against assuming that promising participants anonymity means that they will provide betterquality answers. ‘Particularly among college students who often complete questionnaires to fulfil course requirements, such a guarantee may serve to sanction half-hearted survey completion rather than freeing students up to respond with greater honesty.’

When self-management and surveillance collide In the June issue of Group and Organization Management Good things can come when members of an organisation are allowed to manage their own work, such as greater job satisfaction and better adherence to organisational policy. But this involves management doing an uncomfortable thing: surrendering control. Often, organisations compensate by coupling self-management with surveillance techniques of the close-up or electronic variety.

New research suggests that self-management has even more benefits, but that mashing it with surveillance can end up bringing out the worst in people.

Jaclyn Jenson and Jana Raver conducted two studies, the first looking to establish whether people given freedom would use it to perform more positive, discretionary acts, socalled organisational citizenship behaviours or OCBs. By mocking up a fictional consultancy, the researchers could recruit 211 participants (in their own minds, employees on a one-off, very short-term contract) to show up, review investment advice, and write it up in the form of a report.

Before starting their short-term shift, they were given Terms of Service both printed and read aloud; these either emphasised self-management or othermanagement, a promise realised by the shift supervisor sitting passively or actively pacing the room. The work involved discretionary elements, such as how long the report was and whether to complete or skip some optional questionnaires.

The amount of discretional

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effort was turned into an OCB score: individuals in the selfmanagement condition scored higher, making efforts over and above what was demanded.

Study 2 surveyed individuals across a range of organisations, to offer a field replication and extend the investigation to understand how surveillance interacts with selfmanagement. The survey introduced a further outcome measure, counter-productive work behaviours (CWBs): choosing to undermine the organisation in some way, such as deliberately dragging your heels on a task. The data from the 423 respondents suggested that surveillance in itself encouraged CWBs, but this was driven by its interaction with self-management. When individuals believed they were supposed to be self managing – 'It is my responsibility, and not my organisation’s, to monitor my own workplace behavior and job performance' – but the

reality was that they were being monitored, their CWBs were markedly higher. Jensen and Raver predicted this finding, seeing it as an example of psychological reactance: when freedom you believe you deserve is seemingly taken away, you will try to recover autonomy through other means, even at the expense of the organisation.

The survey also revealed that the normally observed relationship between self-management and higher trust in the organisation was severed once surveillance entered the mix.

This research suggests that if you don’t want to evoke petty revenges from employees, it’s vital that cultures of selfmanagement aren’t tempered by close surveillance. By resisting that temptation, you’re likely to yield benefits.

I This item is taken from the Society’s Occupational Digest, written by Dr Alex Fradera. See www.occdigest.org.uk.

The material in this section is taken from the Society’s Research Digest blog at www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog, and is written by its editor Dr Christian Jarrett. Visit the blog for full coverage including references and links, additional current reports, an archive, comment and more.

Subscribe by RSS or e-mail at www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog Become a fan at www.facebook.com/researchdigest Follow the Digest editor at www.twitter.com/researchdigest

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MEDIA

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Developing interest Sinéad Rhodes on recent responses to a Society Section conference he British Psychological Society’s T Developmental Section conference recently took place in my place of work, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and I was the organiser. One of the interesting and rewarding aspects of the role was seeing the significant media interest received by a number of the presentations. To our surprise this interest went beyond the UK; there was a lot of coverage of press-released abstracts across Europe, especially Germany for some unknown reason! In total five abstracts were press released from the conference abstracts; three of these, in particular,

MEDIA PRIME CUTS

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There’s a phobia about holes – psychologists are looking into it http://t.co/MHRfGddh Reparative therapies ‘relegated to the dustbin of quackery’ http://t.co/UYH7yRTQ Growing up in Broadmoor http://t.co/7NUqnt6F The drugs don’t work: a ‘secretive and shameful situation’ http://t.co/PODvSru1 Let’s use evolution to turn us green, says psychologist http://t.co/mo00TrWT ‘There were no ethical approval boards at that time’ – the psychology of driving blind on a public highway http://t.co/JJwzvTx5 The political psychology of self-immolation http://t.co/tSD4tACP Replication can’t cure a flawed methodology http://t.co/HfLuJZOY Joke boffins analyse tragedy humour http://t.co/u0bQ8txr Would you discriminate against a psychologist who displayed clear conservative views in a paper or grant proposal? http://t.co/INAgyjev Revisiting Robbers Cave http://t.co/olGgdau2

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The Media page aims to promote and discuss psychology in the media. If you would like to contribute, please contact the Associate Editor for the ‘Media’ page, Lucy

seemed to hit the media sweet spot.

Importantly, each of these studies and associated press coverage also highlight the importance of presenting research to the public in a number of different ways.

The first study, which examined the impact of texting on children’s grammar, highlights the importance of addressing popular underresearched concerns with scientific data.

The interest in the second study, which examined the factors that help prevent the development of criminality, shows that the media appreciate research that picks apart established relationships accepted by the population at large.

The third study, which examined humour in infants, shows how an area that may seem trivial to research can offer important insights into psychological development.

Addressing popular concerns Professor Clare Wood, from the University of Coventry, was the lead researcher on a longitudinal study that examined the impact of texting on children’s grammar. The study assessed 83 primary schoolchildren and 78 secondary schoolchildren on two occasions, a year apart, to see if texting affected grammar over time. Professor Wood highlighted the concern commonly expressed in the media and beyond about the influence of

Maddox, on maddox.lucy@gmail.com. To share examples of psychology in the news and media, connect with The Psychologist on Twitter at www.twitter.com/psychmag.

children’s texting on their grammar development. As she noted, these concerns have not up to now been examined in an empirical way. This longitudinal study found no evidence of a link between poor grammar when texting and the actual grammatical understanding of children in the UK. The study attracted a broad range of media interest including an article in the Telegraph and the Irish Independent, in addition to numerous health websites.

Examining protective factors Professor David Farrington and Dr Maria Ttofi were the lead researchers on a study that examined protective factors against criminality. This longitudinal study followed 411 London boys from the age of 8 until they were 48 years of age.

Information was collected via face-toface interviews with the boys and their parents (ages 8–14), peer ratings (ages 8 and 10) and teacher ratings (ages 8–14).

Ninety-three per cent of the participants were interviewed again at 48 years of age. Dr Ttofi said: ‘We also checked if they had received any criminal and violent convictions from the age of 15–50 inclusive’.

The results showed that 18 per cent of those identified as bullies at age 14 had been convicted for a violent offence and 39 per cent for a criminal offence. Dr Ttofi explained: ‘An interesting aspect of the findings was the contrast between bullies with high and low IQs. Those with a high IQ were less likely to be convicted of a violent criminal offence (5 per cent) compared to those with low IQs (26 per cent). We also found that those who came from a small family, with a good income and attending a good school, were much less likely to go on to commit crimes.

Another interesting finding was that factors that appeared to prevent these boys going on to violent offending tended to be related to the individual (e.g. IQ) whilst factors that appeared to prevent criminal offending tended to be family and social factors. The main implication of this is that different types of interventions may be differentially effective in interrupting the path from school bullying to later crime or violence.’

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This study is an important example of the need for researchers to get their research ‘out there’ and engage the public with their findings. Studies like this demonstrate that simple accepted relationships – such as that between early bullying and later criminality – are more complex, with the potential to identify ways in which pathways to criminality can be changed. The study received significant press interest including a feature on sciencedaily.com.

A potentially ‘frivolous topic’ A study by US researchers Gina Mireault (Johnson State College) and John Sparrow (University of New Hampshire), which demonstrated that babies learn humour from their parents, also attracted significant media interest. As the researchers point out, at first glance, humour might seem like a frivolous topic to examine. The findings show, however, that the study of this behaviour provides insights into more complex aspects of social development.

This study involved recording the reactions of 30 infants while they watched normal and absurd events. Infants watched their parent react naturally to two ordinary events, looking at a picture book and being shown a small red foam ball. The events were then changed so that they became absurd: The open picture book was bounced on the researcher’s head while she said, ‘Zoop, Zoop’ and the foam ball was placed on the researcher’s nose while she poked it and said, ‘Beep, Beep’. Parents were instructed to either stare at the researcher with an expressionless face or to point and laugh at her.

The study found that, although sixmonth-old infants stared longer at the absurd events, showing that these were unfamiliar to them, their reactions to the events did not depend on their parents’ reactions. However, infants watched their parents closely when they laughed. The combination of paying close attention to absurd events and to others laughing at those events might explain how infants develop the sophisticated sense of humour they possess at 12 months, the researchers said. According to the lead researcher, Gina Mireault, the study shows that six-month-old infants pay attention to ‘unsolicited emotional advice’ from parents during ambiguous situations that might be funny. This study shows that aspects of behaviour such as humour can provide a lens through which social behaviours are examined, and that media outlets may respond to this route in to a complex topic.

NEVER MIND THE NEUROBOLLOCKS ‘An intellectual pestilence is upon us.’ So began Steven Poole’s recent piece for New Statesman (see tinyurl.com/8jkndqc). The form of this plague?

‘Neuroscientism – aka neurobabble, neurobollocks, or neurotrash’. According to Poole, ‘the dazzling real achievements of brain research are routinely pressed into service for questions they were never designed to answer’.

Poole bemoans the proliferation of ‘neural’ explanations that have ‘become a gold standard of non-fiction exegesis, adding its own brand of computerassisted lab-coat bling to a whole new industry of intellectual quackery that affects to elucidate even complex sociocultural phenomena’. Simply add the prefix ‘neuro’ to whatever you are talking about.

Hey presto, ‘neuromagic’, ‘neuroeconomics’, ‘neurogastronomy’, ‘neuropolitics’…

Taking aim at a wide range of psychologists and non-psychologists, with varying degrees of ire, Poole questions whether such books are just self-help in new clothes. Interestingly, he suggests that their recommendations boil down to a kind of neo-Stoicism, drizzled with brain-juice.

‘In a self-congratulatory egalitarian age, you can no longer tell people to improve themselves morally. So selfimprovement is couched in instrumental, scientifically approved terms.’

Poole talks to some experts to add weight to his argument. Professor Paul Fletcher, from the University of Cambridge, says that he gets ‘exasperated’ by much popular coverage of neuroimaging research, which assumes that ‘activity in a brain region is the

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answer to some profound question about psychological processes. This is very hard to justify given how little we currently know about what different regions of the brain actually do.’ Too often, he tells Poole, a popular writer will ‘opt for some sort of neuro-flapdoodle in which a highly simplistic and questionable point is accompanied by a suitably grand-sounding neural term and thus acquires a weightiness that it really doesn’t deserve’.

As Poole acknowledges in passing, this idea is not new. The idea that a neurological explanation could exhaust the meaning of experience was already being mocked as ‘medical materialism’ by the psychologist William James a century ago. What Poole doesn’t acknowledge is that several psychologists and bloggers have railed against ‘neurobollocks’ for years, for example ‘Sandra K’ at the Neurofuture blog (tinyurl.com/95q6f9v), Tom Stafford at Mind Hacks (tinyurl.com/9owuuau) and more. ‘The Neurocritic’ picked up on this (see tinyurl.com/9ohu2xj), concluding: ‘There’s always room for snarky new neurocriticism, Mr. Poole, but please realise that simplified pop visions of oxytocin and dopamine and mirror neurons have been under siege for years.’

For me, though, the most important lesson of Poole’s piece was perhaps unintended. Here’s his recipe for writing a hit popular brain book: ‘You start each chapter with a pat anecdote about an individual’s professional or entrepreneurial success, or narrow escape from peril. You then mine the neuroscientific research

for an apparently relevant specific result and narrate the experiment, perhaps interviewing the scientist involved and describing his hair. You then climax in a fit of premature extrapolation, inferring from the scientific result a calming bromide about what it is to function optimally as a modern human being. Voilà, a laboratory-sanctioned Big Idea in digestible narrative form. This is what the psychologist Christopher Chabris has named the ‘story-studylesson’ model, perhaps first perfected by one Malcolm Gladwell.’

Now I’m not suggesting that all dissemination of psychology should follow the ‘story-study-lesson’ model slavishly, but I would say that we’d all be better educated if more of it did! As Poole’s piece descended into a series of pops at easy targets such as Jonah Lehrer and NLP, I couldn’t help feeling that we were in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, we need to be wary of the seductive allure of neuroscience, as psychologists themselves have warned for several years (for example, see tinyurl.com/8od7gxy).

But perhaps we all have something to learn from the success of the ‘story-studylesson’ model. And as for concerns over the colonisation of the entire human map by brain research: who decides what questions psychology and neuroscience were ‘designed to answer’? Surely the beauty of our discipline is that pretty much anything and everything is up for grabs, and there are always new stories to be spun. JS

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(Seligman, 2011). This article aims to provide a state-of-the-art review of the psychology of post-traumatic growth.

What is post-traumatic growth?

What doesn’t kill us…

Stephen Joseph discusses the psychology of post-traumatic growth Suffering is universal: you attempt to subvert it so that it does not have a destructive, negative effect. You turn it around so that it becomes a creative, positive force.

Terry Waite, who survived four years as a hostage in solitary confinement (quoted in Joseph, 2012, p.143)

questions

The field of psychological trauma is changing as researchers recognise that adversity does not always lead to a damaged and dysfunctional life. Post-traumatic growth refers to how adversity can be a springboard to higher levels of psychological well-being. This article provides an overview of theory, practice and research.

To what extent is post-traumatic stress the engine of post-traumatic growth? How can clinicians measure change? What can help people to thrive following adversity?

S

Is post-traumatic growth a normal and natural process?

What factors may impede posttraumatic growth?

resources

Joseph, S. (2012). What doesn’t kill us: The new psychology of posttraumatic growth. London: Piatkus Little Brown.

Stephen Joseph’s blog at Psychology Today: www.psychologytoday.com/blog/whatdoesnt-kill-us Interviews with Stephen Joseph about post-traumatic growth: http://whatdoesntkillus.com/?p=3 APA website: The road to resilience www.apa.org/helpcenter/roadresilience.aspx

references

Do we have to experience trauma in order to grow psychologically?

Abraido-Lanza, A.F. Guier, C. & Colon, R.M. (1998). Psychological thriving among Latinas with chronic illness.

Journal of Social Issues, 54, 405–424.

American Psychiatric Association (1980).

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd edn).

Washington, DC: Author.

Butler, L.D., Blasey, C.M., Garlan, R.W. et al. (2005). Posttraumatic growth following the terrorist attacks of

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cientific interest in positive changes following adversity was sparked when a handful of studies appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s, reporting positive changes in, for example, rape survivors, male cardiac patients, bereaved adults, survivors of shipping disaster, and combat veterans.

Then, the topic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was relatively new (following its introduction in 1980 by American Psychiatric Association), and was attracting much research interest.

The relatively few observations of positive change were overshadowed by research on the ways in which trauma could lead to the destruction and devastation of a person’s life.

But interest in how trauma can be a catalyst for positive changes began to take hold during the mid 1990s when the concept of post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) was introduced. It proved to be popular and became the descriptor for a field of inquiry attracting international attention from researchers, scholars and practitioners (see, Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006; Joseph & Linley, 2008a; Weiss & Berger, 2010). Over the past decade it has developed into one of the flagship topics for positive psychology

September 11th, 2001: Cognitive, coping and trauma symptom predictors in an internet convenience sample. Traumatology, 11, 247–267.

Calhoun, L.G. &Tedeschi, R.G. (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of posttraumatic growth: Research and practice.

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Dekel, S., Ein-Dor, T. & Solomon, Z. (2012). Posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic distress: A

After experiencing a traumatic event, people often report three ways in which their psychological functioning increases: 1. Relationships are enhanced in some way. For example, people describe that they come to value their friends and family more, feel an increased sense of compassion for others and a longing for more intimate relationships.

2. People change their views of themselves. For example, developing in wisdom, personal strength and gratitude, perhaps coupled with a greater acceptance of their vulnerabilities and limitations.

3. People describe changes in their life philosophy. For example, finding a fresh appreciation for each new day and re-evaluating their understanding of what really matters in life, becoming less materialistic and more able to live in the present.

Several self-report psychometric tools were published during the 1990s to assess positive changes following trauma, the first such measure was the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (Joseph et al., 1993), followed by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996); the Stress Related Growth Scale (Park et al., 1996), the Perceived Benefit Scale (McMillen & Fisher, 1998), and the Thriving Scale (Abraido-Lanza et al., 1998). Each of these measures asks respondents to think about how they have changed since an event and to rate the extent of their change on a series of items.

Using such measures of perceived growth, and open-ended interviews, a large number of studies have shown that growth is common for survivors of various traumatic events, including transportation accidents (shipping disasters, plane crashes, car accidents), natural disasters

longitudinal study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 4, 94–101.

Gunty, A.L., Frazier, P.A., Tennen, H. et al.

(2011).Moderators of the relation between perceived and actual posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3, 61–66.

Hefferon, K., Grealy, M. & Mutrie, N. (2008). The perceived influence of an

exercise class intervention on the process and outcomes of posttraumatic growth. Journal of Mental Health and Physical Activity, 1, 32–39.

Helgeson, V.S., Reynolds., K.A. & Tomich, P.L. (2006). A meta-analytic review of benefit finding and growth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 797–816.

Joseph, S. (2012). What doesn’t kill us:

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(hurricanes, earthquakes), interpersonal experiences (combat, rape, sexual assault, child abuse), medical problems (cancer, heart attack, brain injury, spinal cord injury, HIV/AIDS, leukaemia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis) and other life experiences (relationship breakdown, parental divorce, bereavement, emigration). Typically 30–70 per cent of survivors will say that they have experienced positive changes of one form or another (Linley & Joseph, 2004).

Practitioners in health, clinical and counselling psychology will encounter patients daily whose lives have been affected by such events. Up to now practitioners may have drawn on theories of post-traumatic stress to help their patients. A pressing theoretical issue therefore is the relation between posttraumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. How can these new ideas improve how we work with patients?

Theory and practice of post-traumatic growth

motivated towards processing the new trauma-related information in ways that maximise their psychological well-being (Joseph & Linley, 2005, 2006).

Organismic valuing refers to how intrinsic motivation is experienced by the person. One woman who was caught up in a fatal shooting in which her close friend was killed, and who had suffered from considerable post-traumatic stress for several years, said how she woke early one morning after a night of restless sleep and got up to look at a picture of her children: In the silent wee hours of the morning, I sat staring at their picture and began to sob. Through my sobs, I heard the real voice of wisdom I believe we all possess. It was my voice, the voice that knows me best, but a voice that had become muted.

Guess what. No one is coming to change the situation. No one will rescue you. No one can. It’s up to you.

Find your strength. I realised that as long as I remained a victim, I too made my family a victim. My anxiety could only teach them to be anxious.

I was robbing them of happiness and a positive outlook on the world. I had come to the intersection of intersections. I could choose to end my life or I could choose to live.

Research is now untangling a seemingly intricate dance between post-traumatic stress processes and post-traumatic growth. The most successful attempt to date is organismic valuing theory, which explains how posttraumatic growth arises as a result of post-traumatic stress. This is a personcentred theory that draws together information processing and social cognitive theories of posttraumatic stress with research on selfdetermination theory. The theory shows trauma leads to a breakdown in selfstructure, signalled by the experiences of posttraumatic stress indicating the need to cognitively process the new traumaPost-traumatic growth – people describe that they related information. come to value their friends and family more People are intrinsically

The new psychology of posttraumatic growth. London: Piatkus Little Brown.

Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2005). Positive adjustment to threatening events: An organismic valuing theory of growth through adversity. Review of General Psychology, 262–280.

Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2006). Growth following adversity: Theoretical perspectives and implications for

clinical practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 1041–1053.

Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2008a).

Psychological assessment of growth following adversity: A review. In S. Joseph & P.A. Linley (Eds.) Trauma, recovery, and growth: Positive psychological perspectives on posttraumatic stress. (pp.21–38).

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley .

Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A (Eds.) (2008b).

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk

I needed to live for my family – and later I understood most importantly, for myself. (quoted in Joseph, 2012, p.142)

Post-traumatic growth involves the rebuilding of the shattered assumptive world. This can be illustrated through the metaphor of the shattered vase. Imagine that one day you accidentally knock a treasured vase off its perch. It smashes into tiny pieces. What do you do? Do you try to put the vase back together as it was? Do you collect the pieces and drop them in the rubbish, as the vase is a total loss? Or do you pick up the beautiful coloured pieces and use them to make something new – such as a colourful mosaic? When adversity strikes, people often feel that at least some part of them – be it their views of the world, their sense of themselves, their relationships – has been smashed. Those who try to put their lives back together exactly as they were remain fractured and vulnerable. But those who accept the breakage and build themselves anew become more resilient and open to new ways of living.

These changes do not necessarily mean that the person will be entirely free of the memories of what has happened to them, the grief they experience or other forms of distress, but that they live their lives more meaningfully in the light of what happened.

The implication of organismic valuing theory is that post-traumatic stress is the catalyst for post-traumatic growth.

Helgeson et al. (2006) conducted a metaanalytic review concluding that greater post-traumatic growth was related to more intrusive and avoidant post-traumatic stress experiences. As intrusion and avoidance are generally seen as symptoms of PTSD at first glance this result would seem to suggest that post-traumatic growth is indicative of poor mental health, but consistent with organismic valuing theory Helgeson et al. suggest is that these constructs reflect cognitive processing: Experiencing intrusive thoughts about a stressor may be a signal that people

Trauma, recovery, and growth. Positive psychological perspectives on posttraumatic stress. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Joseph, S., Maltby, J. Wood, A.M. et al.

(2012). Psychological Well-Being – Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB–PTCQ): Reliability and validity. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 4(4), 420–428

Joseph, S., Williams, R. & Yule, W. (1993).

Changes in outlook following disaster: The preliminary development of a measure to assess positive and negative responses.

Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 271–279.

Kunst, M.J.J. (2010). Peritraumatic distress, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and posttraumatic growth in victims of

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are working through the implications of the stressor for their lives, and these implications could lead to growth. In fact, some might argue that a period of contemplation and consideration of the stressor is necessary for growth to occur. (p.810)

stress. Butler et al.

(2005), for example, in their study following the attacks of September 2001, found that greater post-traumatic It is in this sense that post-traumatic stress was stress can be conceptualised as the engine associated with of post-traumatic growth. This is also the greater postconclusion of a recent study by Dekel and traumatic growth, colleagues (2012), who set out to shed but only up to a light on the interplay between PTSD and point, above which post-traumatic growth. Using longitudinal post-traumatic self-report data from Israeli combat growth declines. veterans who were studied over 17 years, Could there with assessment at three time points, the be a curvilinear researchers found that greater PTSD in relationship 1991 predicted greater growth in 2003, between postPost-traumatic stress can be conceptualised as the engine of postand greater PTSD in 2003 predicted traumatic stress and traumatic growth greater growth in 2008. post-traumatic However, it also seems that the growth? Low levels relationship between post-traumatic of post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress is a stress reactions indicate that the person has developing a new understanding of function of the intensity of post-traumatic been minimally affected, thus one would psychological trauma that integrates postexpect minimal post-traumatic traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth growth. A moderate level of postwithin a single conceptual framework traumatic stress is indicative that which can guide clinical practice. A new the individual’s assumptive world constructive narrative framework that can has in some way been challenged guide practitioners is the THRIVE model triggering the intrusive and (Joseph, 2012). THRIVE consists of six Taking stock (Making sure the client is safe and avoidant experiences, but the signposts (see box). Starting with ‘taking helping them learn to manage their post-traumatic person remains able to cope, think stock’, the therapist works with the client stress to tolerable levels, e.g. through exposureclearly, and engage sufficiently in to alleviate problems of post-traumatic related exercises). the necessary affective-cognitive stress sufficiently so as to enable them to Harvesting hope (Learning to be hopeful about the processing needed to work through. engage in effortful cognitive processing. future, e.g. looking for inspirational stories of A high level of post-traumatic Then follows five further signposts in people who have overcome similar obstacles). stress, however, where a diagnosis which the therapist can work alongside Re-authoring (Storytelling, e.g. using expressive of PTSD might be considered, is the client. Post-traumatic growth provides writing techniques to find new perspectives). likely to mean that the person’s practitioners with a new set of tools in Identifying change (Noticing post-traumatic growth, coping ability is undermined and their armoury for working with e.g. using the Psychological Well-Being Posttheir ability to affectivelytraumatised patients.

Traumatic Changes Questionnaire to track change). cognitively process and work Valuing change (Developing awareness of new through their experience is priorities, e.g. positive psychology gratitude New directions impeded. The inverted U-shape exercise).

Each of the measures mentioned relationship between post-traumatic Expressing change in action (Actively seeking to put above provides a particular operational stress and post-traumatic growth post-traumatic growth into the external world, e.g. definition of the construct, and they tend has been reported in several studies making a plan of activity for following week that to be only moderately inter-correlated. (e.g. Kunst, 2010). involves doing concrete things).

Unlike, for example, the construct of Thus, through the above post-traumatic stress disorder, which has research and theory we are

THRIVE

violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 514–518.

Linley, P.A., Felus, A., Gillett, R. & Joseph, S. (2011). Emotional expression and growth following adversity: Emotional expression mediates subjective distress and is moderated by emotional intelligence.

Journal of Loss and Trauma, 16, 387–401.

Linley, P.A. & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive

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change processes following trauma and adversity: A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17, 11–22.

McMillen, J.C. & Fisher, R.H. (1998). The Perceived Benefits Scales: Measuring perceived positive life changes after negative events. Social Work Research, 22, 173–187.

Park, C.L., Cohen, L.H. & Murch, R.L. (1996). Assessment and prediction of

stress-related growth. Journal of Personality, 64, 71–105.

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2003).

Character strengths before and after September 11th. Psychological Science, 14, 381–384.

Prati, G. & Pietrantoni, L. (2009).

Optimism, social support, and coping strategies as factors contributing to posttraumatic growth: A metaanalysis. Journal of Loss and Trauma,

14, 364–388.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press.

Splevins, K.A., Cohen, K., Joseph, S. et al. (2011). Vicarious posttraumatic growth among interpreters.

Qualitative Health Research 20, 1705–1716.

Tedeschi, R.G. & Calhoun, L.G. (1996).

The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of

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an agreed definition provided

by DSM around which measurement tools can be developed, there is no gold standard definition of posttraumatic growth. One suggestion arising from organismic valuing theory is to reframe post-traumatic growth as an increase in psychological well-being (PWB) as opposed to subjective well-being (SWB) (Joseph & Linley, 2008b).

Traditionally, the focus of clinical psychology has been on SWB, which can be broadly defined as emotional states.

Clinical psychology has been largely concerned with the alleviation of negative emotional states. With positive psychology in the background, clinical psychologists are now also concerned with the facilitation of positive emotional states. But posttraumatic growth does not refer to a positive emotional state but to an increase in PWB, defined as high levels of autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, openness to personal growth, purpose in life and self-acceptance (see box).

The topic of post-traumatic growth has also attracted interest from quantitative researchers in personality and social psychology. People may say they have grown, but have they really? There is a limitation to the above-mentioned measures, which is that they rely on retrospective accounts of change – that is, asking people to report on what positive changes they perceive themselves to have experienced since an event. We might refer to this as perceptions of growth to distinguish from actual growth, as measured by calculating the difference between state measures of psychological well-being before and after trauma.

Research suggests that the strength of association between actual and perceived growth is moderated by the degree of distress: for those who are most distressed

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Assessing growth

MARIA TANNER/LACE MARKET

trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455–471.

Weiss, T. & Berger, R. (Eds.) (2010).

Posttraumatic growth and culturally competent practice: Lessons learned from around the globe. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Zoellner, T. & Maercker, A. (2006).

Posttraumatic growth in clinical psychology. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 626–653.

there is a weaker correlation, but for those who are less distressed there is a moderate association (Gunty et al., 2011). It may Think of how you yourself have been influenced by events in be that perceptions of your own life. The Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic growth are at times illusory Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ) was developed to and a way of coping with assess post-traumatic growth as defined by an increase in distress (Zoellner & PWB. The PWB-PTCQ is an 18-item self-report tool in which Maercker, 2006). Therefore people rate how much they have changed as a result of the researchers do need to be trauma. A short six-item version is shown below. wary of always taking reports of growth at face Read each statement below and rate how you have changed value, particularly in the as a result of the trauma. immediate aftermath of a 5 = Much more so now crisis when people are most 4 = A bit more so now distressed.

3 = I feel the same about this as before However, while we 2 = A bit less so now may question people’s 1 = Much less so now perceptions of growth, there is no question that actual 1. I like myself post-traumatic growth 2. I have confidence in my opinions occurs, as this has been 3. I have a sense of purpose in life demonstrated in before-and4. I have strong and close relationships in my life after studies (e.g. Peterson 5. I feel I am in control of my life & Seligman, 2003). What 6. I am open to new experiences that challenge me is now needed are more prospective longitudinal People may find it useful to use the PWB-PTCQ to gain studies able to document insight into how they have changed. Often these dimensions the development of growth of change go unnoticed in everyday life but deserve to be over time, how both actual flagged up and nurtured. Clinicians will find the new tool and perceived growth couseful as it allows them to bridge their traditional concerns vary over time and how of psychological suffering with the new positive psychology they relate to other of growth following adversity (see Joseph et al., 2012). variables – both as outcome variables in order to understand the development of growth, 2011) and interventions (e.g. Hefferon and as predictor variables in order to et al., 2008). understand the consequences of growth.

Research shows that greater post-traumatic Conclusion growth is associated with: personality The idea of post-traumatic growth has factors, such as emotional stability, become one of the most exciting topics extraversion, openness to experience, in modern psychology because it changes optimism and self-esteem; ways of coping, how we think about psychological such as acceptance, positive reframing, trauma. Psychologists are beginning to seeking social support, turning to religion, realise that post-traumatic stress following problem solving; and social support factors trauma is not always a sign of disorder.

(Prati & Pietrantoni, 2009). But now more Instead, post-traumatic stress can signal sophisticated theoretically informed that the person is going through a normal designs are also called for in which we and natural emotional struggle to rebuild can begin to understand the factors that mediate and moderate post-traumatic stress their lives and make sense of what has befallen them. Sadly it often takes a tragic and thus lead to post-traumatic growth. event in our lives before we make such As an example of the directions that changes. Survivors have much to teach social and personality researchers may those of us who haven’t experienced such pursue, in one recent study it was found traumas about how to live. that emotion-focused coping mediated the association between subjective ratings of distress and post-traumatic growth and Stephen Joseph that emotional intelligence moderated is a Professor at the the association between emotion-focused University of Nottingham coping and post-traumatic growth (Linley and Honorary Consultant in et al., 2011). While there is much that can Nottinghamshire NHS Trust be learned from quantitative research, there stephen.joseph@ is also a need for qualitative research to nottingham.ac.uk explore new contexts (e.g. Splevins et al.,

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I felt strongly that we were clearly making a piece for people who liked that kind of thing, i.e. the spooky ghost story, not those who didn’t. It was never going to delight people who didn't congenitally like being scared. And it was never going to please experts who took their role in parapsychology as more important and Ciarán O’Keeffe marks the 20th anniversary of a notorious BBC Halloween serious than anything the media, or special with a look at its legacy and links with psychology dramatic fiction, especially in this derided genre, could come up with.’

I asked him if he would have changed anything in hindsight. In fact, he says he was hoping for more realism. ‘I think wenty years ago, a Halloween some better “real-life stories” might have crew (à la Granada’s World in Action) television programme was been more interesting, but the production getting involved in a contemporary introduced with these dramatic simply couldn’t find them, or ran out of haunted tower block story in the course words: ‘No creaking gates, no gothic time. Also there was a decision to amp it of which they meet a (what we then towers, no shuttered windows… Yet for up and go for broke at the climax – to called) psychical researcher. The BBC the past 10 months this house has been make it clear in the end that it was didn’t go for the supernatural six-parter the focus of an astonishing barrage of drama. I’d have preferred to maintain the idea, so the producer, Ruth Baumgarten, supernatural activity.’ For 90 minutes horror and simply cut to black with the asked if it could work as a 90-minute there followed a dramatised investigation thought that “Pipes” [the ghost] was now single drama as part of the Screen One of ‘the most haunted house in Britain’ led streaming out into strand. I suggested to her by a team of well-known television your own home. The the idea of the climax of presenters. Viewers of Ghostwatch were producer drew the my six-parter – a live “the things that scare us taken into an unexceptional threeline at that, possibly broadcast from a haunted influence us deeply and bedroomed terraced house in Northolt, rightly so, given that house: “But what if we did enable us to create” compelled to watch as paranormal it later earned the it as if it actually was live?” phenomena gradually began to dubious honour of She was very excited by overwhelm its residents and investigators. being the first television that and commissioned Presented as ‘live’ television (although you a script instantly.’ programme to be cited in the British can watch the continuity announcement Medical Journal as having caused postThe public reaction and commentary at www.ghostwatchbtc.com), the BBC’s traumatic stress disorder in children.’ came from many corners. For Dr Susan switchboard was swamped with A trawl through various medical Blackmore, a parapsychologist at the time, thousands of calls from viewers unaware library catalogues revealed that two years there were severe ethical issues to contend it was drama not reality. after Ghostwatch, two doctors from with: ‘It treated the audience unfairly.

According to Bob Rickard of Fortean Gulson Hospital in Coventry, Simons and It can be exciting to play on the edge of Times, Most callers felt that this fictional Silveira (1994), reported on two 10-yearfantasy and reality, or stretch the accepted programme breached the trust between old boys who were referred to their child norms of television conventions, but this broadcaster and audience. Star of psychiatry unit. The boys’ symptoms was neither true to its format nor fun.

Ghostwatch, Michael Parkinson, enraged included sleep disturbances, fear of the It was horrid to watch the distress of the many by gloating: ‘If we’ve scared the dark, difficulty concentrating, separation girls, real or faked. I found it over-long pants off people, we’ve done our job well.’ and occasionally disgusting… The lack anxiety, depressed mood and irritability, The original idea for Ghostwatch was one of them even banging his head to of adequate warnings was irresponsible.’ not developed just to provoke such a remove thoughts of ghosts. The authors ‘Of course we fought for the lack of furore. I spoke to Stephen Volk, its creator obvious forewarning that the programme reported that ‘the trauma in our two cases and writer (see www.stephenvolk.net). had been caused by the television was drama,’ Stephen Volk says in his He told me that ‘it was first pitched and programme the boys had watched’. defence. ‘For the conceit of the structured in around 1988 as a six-part The following month, in the ‘Letters’ programme to work on any level, it would drama series (even then called section of the same journal, a number of have been ridiculous to blow the gaffe up Ghostwatch) about a TV investigative film other cases, outlined by psychiatrists from front. It was always a balancing act, but

The ghost in the living room

references

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Ballon, B. & Leszcz, M. (2007). Horror films: Tales to master terror or shapers of trauma? American Journal of Psychotherapy, 61(2), 211–230.

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Bell, V. (2012). How Ghostwatch haunted psychiatry. Retrieved 1 October 2012 from http://mindhacks.com/2012/04/ 21/how-ghostwatch-haunted-

psychiatry/ Bozzuto, J.C. (1975). Cinematic neurosis following ‘The Exorcist’: Report of four cases. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 161, 43–48.

Forbes, F. & McClure, I. (1994, March).

The terror of television: Made worse by family stress. British Medical Journal, 308, 714.

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disorder in children after television programmes. British Medical Journal, 308, 389–390.

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Postraumatic stress disorder: Current concepts and controversies.

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Thacker, S. (1994, March). Post-traumatic stress disorder cannot follow television viewing. British Medical Journal, 308, 714.

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various hospitals, showed remarkably dramatically, claiming they were cases of similar symptoms. Forbes and McClure hysterical ‘possession’ thereby supporting (1994), for example, discussed the onset Bozzuto’s discussion of Freud’s of intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and ‘demonological neurosis’ (Beit-Hallahmi, nightmares occurring suddenly following 1996). an 11-year-old boy’s watching of the It shows, perhaps, that even nonprogramme. Such cases were certainly traumatic stressors can give rise to PTSDof note, with the originators of the like symptoms, particularly for Ghostwatch PTSD research claiming particularly susceptible individuals, a that ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder due view echoed by recent PTSD researchers to watching a television programme has (e.g. Taylor & Asmundson, 2008). It is not been reported previously’ (Simons & worth noting though that these reactions Silveira, 1994, p.390). may not apply these days. In a brief Maybe not television, but it’s not the interview I conducted with Bozzuto he first time other media has provoked such stated that ‘The Exorcist would not have a reaction. A classic precursor to the ‘is it real, or isn’t it?’ media hoax is the 1938 radio adaption of The War of the Worlds narrated by Orson Welles. Also broadcast around Halloween, panic ensued as the listening public thought the description of a Martian invasion was real. In 1973 the release of The Exorcist, a film adaption of William Peter Blatty’s novel, inspired by a ‘true’ possession case, caused severe reactions. Similar to Ghostwatch, the film provoked controversy and resulted in a number of catalogued PTSD cases. Bozzuto (1975) reported on four cases of what he termed ‘cinema neurosis’ where people suffered from a number of symptoms including insomnia, appetite loss, paranoia, nightmares and irritability precipitated by viewing The Exorcist.

Cinematic neurosis has Illustration by Ghostwatch fan Arfon Jones sent to the been defined elsewhere ‘Ghostwatch Behind the Curtains’ website as ‘the development of anxiety, somatic responses, dissociation, and even psychotic symptoms after the same impact today. Audiences were watching a film’ (Ballon & Leszcz, 2007). unprepared, and uneducated. However, Bozzuto (1975) does note, however that it is important to note that all movies can ‘each patient had a predisposition for cause some disturbances. They may not trauma… The movie was traumatic attain the full effect of PTSD, but they can therefore not because of its use of still be disturbing, loss of sleep, intrusive violence, or aggression, but because it thoughts, etc., just less severe. We are a portrayed uncontrollable forces within bit desensitised to violence now.’ the person, which could be unleashed The controversial reactions continued by outside forces over which one had following the publication of such PTSD no control’ (Bozzuto, 1975, p.74). Other cases. Taylor and Asmundson (2008) researchers described these cases more state that it seems more likely that many

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of the case reports from seeing The Exorcist as a traumatic incident are individuals who had ‘schizotypal personality features, including supertitiousness and magical thinking, which may have amplified their fears of demonic possession after viewing the film’ (Taylor & Asmundson, 2008, p.65).

More emphatically, the cases of Ghostwatch PTSD are dismissed out of hand by some researchers, who point to the rapid resolution of the children’s symptoms as an indication that they were suffering merely a brief anxiety reaction to the television programme (Thacker, 1994).

However, beyond the professional community, there were those who were convinced there had been a direct and negative impact of Ghostwatch on its viewers. The mother of 18-year-old Martin Denham blamed the BBC for her son’s suicide, although the coroner made no reference to the programme in announcing his verdict (see tinyurl.com/8q2zmts). The Broadcasting Standards Commission, required to hear the complaint of the Denhams and others by a judicial review, ruled that ‘The BBC had a duty to do more than simply hint at the deception it was practising on the audience. In Ghostwatch there was a deliberate attempt to cultivate a sense of menace.’

The ‘value’ of trauma Given the impact of Ghostwatch, and its continued influence to this day, exactly 20 years later, I wanted to ask its creator and writer, Stephen Volk, about some of the psychiatric and psychological aspects.

What were his views on some of the mental health concerns following its showing? He told me: Earlier this year I went to a screening of Ghostwatch at the Electric Cinema, Birmingham, which was very interesting because the programmer David Baldwin said in no uncertain terms that Ghostwatch had traumatised him as a child and one of the reasons he wanted to show it as part of his Shock and Awe Horror Film Festival was to ‘put his demons to rest’ – though he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to watch it a second time, it had had such a profound impact on him. Anyway, he did, and he still found it uncomfortable. But we interviewed him afterwards for our documentary Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains (which is a full look at the making of and aftermath of the show, with interviews with all the cast and crew and several critics and

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broadcasters). Fascinatingly, David said that yes, it scared him as a youngster but he found that a positive experience. It put him on the road to being interested in horror films and doing what he does now as a career.

He went on to talk about the ‘value’ of trauma, which sounds paradoxical, but as a horror writer I can understand it: the fact that Ghostwatch was a thrilling catalyst for his becoming interested in the genre and interested in fear – his own and other people’s.

The relationship between trauma and horror films is the stuff of an entire thesis in itself, but for those of us creative in the horror genre, the things that scare us influence us deeply and enable us (compel us, you might say) to create things that scare others – it’s a cyclical, ongoing event which is perhaps analogous to aspects of PTSD. In a nutshell, far from being ‘harmed’ by watching Ghostwatch, David felt strangely ‘enabled’ by it.

And that’s something I’ve heard from scores of grown-ups who were children ‘scared witless’ but who now come up and shake my hand and say they are now film-makers because of it.

Stephen had mentioned PTSD. When Ghostwatch was shown, the criterion defined by psychiatrists for PTSD was that ‘the person has experienced an event that is outside the range usual human experience and that would be markedly distressing to almost anyone’. Would this be true for any media portrayal of the paranormal nowadays? In fact, would it be true for anything we witness in any media format nowadays?

Perhaps it is about context. If they showed a beheading on the BBC 9 o’clock news – yes, that would traumatise people. That horrid film about executions. That traumatised me. I still have flashbacks of the images. But I also think it’s hard to proscribe what is going to be scary.

I remember as a child I found Buster Keaton terrifying, or a certain illustration in a book, so much so I had to carefully turn over two pages when I got to it. My father found Derren Brown upsetting because he couldn’t understand it. My granny got upset by Star Trek because she thought there was nothing in space except God. I don’t think trauma is going to go away, though I’m worried how desensitisation in modern culture creates over-sentimentality:

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now it is not enough for one person to cry on XFactor – everyone must cry! Yet in everyday life it seems that we care less and less about our fellow man.

Of course the voyeuristic distance of Ghostwatch’s participatory audience is another factor. The fact that we the audience are happy creating a ghost because we’re not there in the haunted house to get scared by it. This is vitally important to the script I wrote. Through television, this thing in all our homes, this invader, we are living vicariously. We are prepared for others to experience and to suffer just as long as we are safe. But how far are we prepared for them to suffer? I think that’s a question that still preoccupies me and I’ve addressed it, or explored it, in a few other stories since then.

LYDIA ROBINSON

looking back

A child's artwork made soon after transmission by Lydia Robinson, and given to director Lesley Manning

The current DSM-IV-TR diagnosis for PTSD says that ‘the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others’ and that the person’s response involved ‘intense fear, helplessness, or horror’. Ghostwatch confronts viewers with potentially threatening events in which some would react with intense fear.

Bell (2012) notes, however, that the new proposed criteria for the DSM-5 wouldn’t allow television-triggered PTSD. In fact it specifically says that exposure to traumatic events ‘does not apply to exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures, unless this exposure is work related.’ So perhaps we don’t need to worry about PTSD in such circumstances any more. But, I ask Stephen, do you think it would be possible to produce a TV show or film that could provoke such a response from a viewer?

A film like Martyrs was one I found completely, unbearably harrowing and I can think of several horror films that have seared their images on my retina. Another recent one is the Spanish film Silent House or of course

the Japanese Audition. The strange thing is, I think the contract with the horror audience is almost ‘Go on, traumatise me! I dare you!’ It is a very peculiar bargain, one unlike you have with any other genre – we defy it to do what it is designed to do. We don’t go to a comedy and defy it to be funny!

But we resist a horror film being terrifying.

The thing is – especially with a TV audience (as opposed to a cinema crowd) – you are talking about a wide range of people from dyed-in-thewool horror fans to quaint little grannies who like Midsomer Murders.

You are not going to get the same reaction from any two people. Some people didn’t believe Ghostwatch for a minute, while others took the whole thing as gospel from beginning to end. Some people I know cannot bear the sight of a splash of tomato ketchup on screen whereas I can quite happily watch the odd special effect decapitation, knowing it’s all fake. So in a way it is hard to regulate for upset or trauma or ‘offence’, which is the buzz word of the day.

One reason Ghostwatch worked is that when you go to a horror film in the cinema you know what you’re getting. You go there, but television comes to you. That’s why I wanted so

vol 25 no 11

november 2012

psy 11_12 p856_859 looking back_Layout 1 15/10/2012 16:55 Page 859

LYDIA ROBINSON

looking back

desperately to make a ghost story for television. Something that gets to you where you feel safest. Literally in your own home. Which is why I wanted the ghost to come to you at the end. You wanted it. You pleaded for it. Now you’ve got it.

In terms of some viewers’ extreme reactions to Ghostwatch (i.e. thinking it was real), is it fair to say we’re seeing a natural development in terms of audience reactions from the first films shown in cinema, to ‘live’ radio broadcasts (e.g. Orson Welles reading The War of the Worlds), to Ghostwatch, Blair Witch Projects, etc. to staged viral videos on YouTube? Is it therefore also fair to say that each of these media formats becomes less effective for such ‘reality’ portrayals as people’s exposure to them increases?

It’s almost a truism that once they’re done you can’t do ‘em again! By their very nature. The basic thing is that, at any of these threshold or watershed moments, someone added a sense of veracity or realism to something, a dramatic form, that was hackneyed and that sudden anarchic act, playful act in a way, took people by surprise.

I think the interesting thing is to go further back to ‘spirit photographs’ by the likes or Mr Mumler, etc. It’s very easy for us to say, ‘My God, that looks so fake, how could anybody think that was genuine?’ But of course photography was in its infancy. People did not understand the secrets of the dark room and also in a way they ‘chose’ to believe. Similarly people might watch Ghostwatch and say, ‘Christ, how did anybody take it for real? It looks so fake!’ But the fact of the matter is that in 1992, many people did think it was real. A friend of mine thought so and I’d told her weeks before that I’d written it. She said, ‘Yes, but when I saw Parkinson I thought you’d made a mistake.’

The psychology of Ghostwatch

It occurred to me there is a ‘Psychology’ here. More than any other television programme, there are published journal articles citing it, there’s the discussion we’re having about PTSD-like responses, documentaries analysing its appeal and the frequent forum discussions where middle-aged men confess the fear they felt when they first watched the show as teenagers. There has even been a live ‘experiment’ as part of Nottingham psychologist Brendan Dare’s ‘thrill laboratory’, inspired by Ghostwatch. I ask Stephen: if I were to invent a phrase, the

‘Psychology of Ghostwatch’, what do you think that would mean?

effective too. In horror the scheme or intent is often to strip away everything that gives the protagonists or viewers security or comfort – family, mother, God, science, and finally even, horror of horrors, the BBC...

I would say the psychology within Ghostwatch is that of a ‘need-based experience’. I was very influenced by the books of Hilary Evans (ironic, given his later criticisms of Ghostwatch). The core idea behind When people have asked ‘how would you Ghostwatch is that TV creates a do it, if you were to do it now?’ you’ve ‘massive séance’ and in so doing it gone on record elsewhere as saying is a kind of prism that focuses the ‘Number one, I wouldn’t do it now, and desire of the audience, in this case its number two, if you did it now you would implicit desire to see a ghost. So I feel just do it for real, you wouldn’t do it as a very much that we, the audience, drama because the whole TV landscape create ‘Pipes’ because we want to see has changed between then and now.’ Has him. The girls in the show say your answer now changed? Do you think explicitly to camera: ‘It’s what you it’s possible to have that kind of wanted, isn’t it?’ and I was very psychological impact on an audience with deliberate in trying to say to the TV all the various media formats that people audience that they (we) are complicit access regularly? Or do you think people in what we watch. In that regard have become too cynical of the world’s Ghostwatch was perhaps a timely media? warning when you think of the Audiences are too knowing by far tsunami of ‘Reality TV’ that followed now. You could not do the same thing. it in years to come, and the effect of it, You just have Most Haunted with the and the way audiences react and feel Stars of Corrie – and nothing happens a part of entertainment today. except some green faces in the dark On the other swearing. I’m so glad we did hand, you could it when we did it in 1992 look at ‘The because it was the right “there is no resistance to psychology of thing at the right time, the threat and instability Ghostwatch’ from culturally, when TV was the outside, changing and the languages is ever present” meaning its effect, of fictional and factual TV or the reaction of were blurring. In fact, I believe the audience. Key Ruth Baumgarten got the BBC to to this, I think, is the role of the BBC, finally green light Ghostwatch because firstly in the way they reacted to the she said, ‘Look, if you don’t do this programme and its aftermath. After fast, somebody else will’. its first and only transmission, the continuity announcer did not Perhaps the reason why Ghostwatch acknowledge in any way that it had worked so well in provoking extreme been a drama, and following the reactions from its viewers is that it did tabloid outrage, the BBC simply not conform to the genre at the time. dropped a hot potato, didn’t hesitate A survey of over 50 years of horror and in doing so, and refused to back its ghost films up to the mid-1980s showed programme makers in any way. that they generally follow a three-part Secondly the fact that the BBC narrative. First, instability is introduced made Ghostwatch is integral to its into an apparently stable situation; effect. Someone recently asked me if second, the threat to instability is resisted; it might have been better on Channel and third, the threat is removed and 4 but I replied that it was far more stability is restored (Ballon & Leszcz, subversive coming from a ‘respected 2007). In Ghostwatch, and indeed The auntie rather than a rather dubious Exorcist, there is no resistance to the uncle’. The BBC is a trusted threat and instability is ever present. organisation. It provides world As the final stages of the programme are news with an integrity second to aired there is no hint the threat will be none. Of course, that was perfect for removed and certainly no resolution to our purpose. Our ghost story was all the instability. Ghostwatch still gives about what, or who, you trust. Do you nightmares, even today. even trust your eyes? So in a huge way the outrage caused was very I Ciarán O’Keeffe is a psychologist much about ‘the BBC shouldn’t have specialising in parapsychology and forensic done this’. People’s trust in that psychology, at Buckinghamshire New establishment had been abused, they University felt. Of course, that was what made it ciaran.okeeffe@bucks.ac.uk

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