Does Psychoeducation Help Prevent Post Traumatic Psychological Distress?

Abstract

Psychoeducation is increasingly used following trauma. The term covers the provision of information about the nature of stress, posttraumatic and other symptoms, and what to do about them. The provision of psychoeducation can also occur before possible exposure to stressful situations or, alternatively, after exposure. The intention of both is to ameliorate or mitigate the effects of exposure to extreme situations. Educational information can be imparted in a number of ways and can also form part of what has been termed psychological first aid. Despite its ubiquity, however, good evidence as to the value of psychoeducation is rare. Perhaps it could be assumed that psychoeducation, like education in general, is so obviously a “good thing” that it requires no evidence. In this paper we question the assumption, arguing that like any other intervention, psychoeducation needs to be backed up by empirical evidence. We will first present the case for and then the case against psychoeducation before reaching some conclusions and making some recommendations.