ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon material gathered from the application of graphic narrative processing using the Instinctual Trauma Response (ITR) model in a therapeutic group setting for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was based in a co-occurring partial hospitalization program attached to the Behavioral Health Department of a major Military Treatment Facility. Following the basic principles of the ITR model, the primary focus of the combat trauma group consisted of graphic narrative processing and re-presentation of adverse combat experiences. Some major problems for PTSD survivors include: having fragmented memories that cannot generate a linear narrative, lacking words to describe the experiences, and feeling that one's sense of time has been altered in some fundamental way. The ITR model is based on information from three main sources: modern brain research, clinical observations and published case material, and an understanding of evolutionary survival mechanisms. Making art gives the non-verbal brain an opportunity for "output by motor and symbolic expression".
