Agency in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Implications for Therapy

The concept of agency, or an individual's sense of control over their actions and external events, is important in the context of peritraumatic dissociation, and its cardinal importance in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This article provides a roadmap for the development of agency-based therapies in the future, along with offering an "enactive" perspective on trauma. We discuss the clinical implications of this perspective in terms of techniques and interventions to mitigate symptomatology. We also discuss the potential for the use of sensorimotor technologies, such as gesture sonification devices, to enhance and restore agency during PTSD recovery.