In 2015 Stephan Wolpert approached psychologists from NYU with his experiential approach using Shakespeare’s work as the basis for a therapeutic treatment for ptsd.

Shakespearean verses possess the Elizabethan chain of being

when veterans sit together and immerse themselves in monologues that match their personal trauma they take on the shared missions of healing in an expanded universe contained by the pentameter.

“Shakespeare’s heightened language has long reflected the soldier’s internal struggle,”  Alisha Ali  is an associate professor of applied psychology at New York University and DE-CRUIT’s lead researcher.

Ali’s DE-CRUIT research suggests early life trauma, such as sexual abuse or extreme bullying, can predate the trauma caused by military service. In many cases, veterans joined the army to escape a vicious loop of trauma, which started in early life and left them with a compromised ability to cope. The hypothesis is that each time DE-CRUIT participants recite Shakespeare, they are not just dealing with their time in the military; they are coping with traumas acquired through life and allow the language to inhabit their body and lift the spirit in it’s sheer beauty of expression.

Somatic reasons

eg lady gives a description of ptsd written 400 years ago

 
 O my good lord, why are you thus alone?
 For what offense have I this fortnight been
 A banished woman from my Harry’s bed?
 Tell me, sweet lord, what is ’t that takes from thee
 Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
 Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth
 And start so often when thou sit’st alone?