Restorative Retelling for Violent Loss: An Open Clinical Trial

Abstract

Those impacted by the loss of a loved one to violent death (i.e., homicide, suicide, or accident) may be at risk for posttraumatic stress, depression, and prolonged grief. Restorative retelling (RR) is a structured group intervention developed to improve coping skills, integrate commemoration of the deceased, and approach traumatic memories. This article provides initial evidence for the use of RR in reducing trauma, depression, and prolonged grief symptoms in a records review open trial of 51 violent loss survivors at a community counseling clinic. Results suggested that RR was well tolerated with a significant decrease in symptoms.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute voucher award (NIH/NCRR#UL1RR029882, voucher #3013-5057 PI: Rheingold).

Notes

Note: Unless otherwise specified, data are means for continuous variables and counts for categorical variables; numbers in parentheses represent standard deviation for continuous variables and percent of total sample for categorical variables.

Note: Numbers are estimated marginal means where time since loss is 51.21 months. Scores on the Inventory of Traumatic Grief are item averages; scores for all other measures are total scores.

*p < .005.