The Double-Edged Sword of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Historical Analysis of Trauma Diagnoses (2007)
Ludlam, Julianne Gray (Author)
Alliant International University
Cushman, Philip
Edition Details: Advisor: Cushman, Philip
Physical Details: 709 pp.
Language: English
Trauma has become a familiar concept in Western culture and is one of the most researched constructs in today's psychological literature. An increasing body of literature has developed around the primary trauma diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This research explores the possibility that the term, "trauma," holds significance for today's culture, and that Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is so ubiquitous in United States culture today because the diagnosis speaks to current ideas about what it means to be human--what philosophers refer as the "self." Specifically, this study: (a) examines the ways in which responses to trauma have been conceptualized and treated over time; (b) analyzes the influences of political and historical forces; and (c) examines what the concept of trauma, as written about in medical and academic texts, reveals about the differing configurations of self over time. This study uses an interpretive, hermeneutic approach to investigation. Scientific literature from different historical periods is considered as a cultural artifact that both reflects and influences the era in which it emerges. This study examines fourteen influential medical and academic texts on the topic of trauma from four time periods: the Victorian Era, the World War I period, the World War II and Vietnam era, and the present day. Included in these texts are such works as Sigmund Freud's (1915) lecture "Fixation to traumas," Robert J. Lifton's (1973) book, Home from the War , and Mardi J. Horowitz's (1999) edited volume, Essential Papers on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder . Findings included several themes, such as: (a) a lack of attention to patients' emotional suffering in trauma study and treatment; and (b) a lack of evidence for patient improvement in trauma texts. It was also concluded that: (a) institutions and groups in power appeared to benefit from trauma studies and treatments; (b) therapeutic outcome seemed related to the degree of political analysis in a theory; and (c) the current popularity of trauma diagnoses seemed related to a contemporary desperation for a sense of identity. Finally, because each era brought such a different theory of trauma to light, this study emphasized the striking historicity of theories of trauma-related problems and the understanding of human being--the self--that was reflected in those theories.
...MoreDescription “Examines fourteen influential medical and academic texts on the topic of trauma from four time periods: the Victorian Era, the World War I period, the World War II and Vietnam era, and the present day.” (from the abstract) Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. B 68/08 (2008). Pub. no. AAT 3276581.
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