Trauma Theory Research Articles

Mirror, Mirror, Who’s the Greatest Power of them All?

In the broader field of trauma theory, trauma is often characterised as an event that is physical, violent, and sporadic. However, feminist trauma theorists have argued that there are other forms of trauma inflicted by ideological systems such as patriarchy, resulting in less transparent versions of the traumatic. Fantasy literature, particularly children’s fantasy, has a potential to construct new visions of society that transcend these patriarchal systems for their young female heroines, and to reveal the functions of patriarchal trauma. By applying feminist trauma theory to children’s fantasy literature, this article exposes the subtler and more nuanced ways in which trauma operates, extending beyond understandings of physical and overt violence. The article offers a close reading of Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor books (2017-2020)—a seminal Australian series that has risen to acclaim for its inclusivity, unconventional representations of gender, and creative world-building since its debut. I argue that Townsend repurposes the tropes of the fantasy genre in the Nevermoor series to hold a mirror to the harmful effects of patriarchy and the gendered violence it perpetuates. As a result, it rejects the common characterisation of trauma as overtly physical, violent, and sporadic. Rather, the series suggests that the representation of trauma in children’s literature, especially middle-grade fiction, is also gendered, and the direct consequence of patriarchy.

Exploring trauma and wellbeing of people who use drugs after witnessing overdose: A qualitative study

BackgroundThe national overdose crisis is often quantified by overdose deaths, but understanding the traumatic impact for those who witness and respond to overdoses can help elucidate mental health needs and opportunities for intervention for this population. Many who respond to overdoses are people who use drugs. This study adds to the literature on how people who use drugs qualitatively experience trauma resulting from witnessing and responding to overdose, through the lens of the Trauma-Informed Theory of Individual Health Behavior. MethodsWe conducted 60-min semi-structured, in-depth phone interviews. Participants were recruited from six states and Washington, DC in March–April 2022. Participants included 17 individuals who witnessed overdose(s) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview guide was shaped by theories of trauma. The codebook was developed using a priori codes from the interview guide; inductive codes were added during content analysis. Transcripts were coded using ATLAS.ti. ResultsA vast majority reported trauma from witnessing overdoses. Participants reported that the severity of trauma varied by contextual factors such as the closeness of the relationship to the person overdosing or whether the event was their first experience witnessing an overdose. Participants often described symptoms of trauma including rumination, guilt, and hypervigilance. Some reported normalization of witnessing overdoses due to how common overdoses were, while some acknowledged overdoses will never be “normal.” The impacts of witnessing overdose on drug use behaviors varied from riskier substance use to increased motivation for treatment and safer drug use practices. ConclusionRecognizing the traumatic impact of witnessed overdoses is key to effectively addressing the full range of sequelae of the overdose crisis. Trauma-informed approaches should be central for service providers when they approach this subject with clients, with awareness of how normalization can reduce help-seeking behaviors and the need for psychological aftercare. We found increased motivation for behavior change after witnessing, which presents opportunity for intervention.

A Language of Hope: Non-traumatic Narrative of Transnational Memory in Khodadad Mohammadi’s ‘The Translator’s Tale’

Focusing on the memory of refugees, asylum seekers, and detainees, this article categorizes their diasporic memory under transnational memory and questions the seemingly natural linkage between trauma theory and memories of exile. By examining the significance of the action of translation in Khodadad Mohammadi’s short story ‘The Translator’s Tale’, this article uncovers agency and hope in non-traumatic narrative and draws attention to the potential of such a narrative to promote solidarity among different communities and collective memories, contributing to the nexus of memory, literature, and activism.

Torture and Trauma in WodOkello Lawoko’s The Dungeon of Nakasero

African literature is characterised by the struggles and challenges of Africans, entailing pains of slavery, primitive colonization and modern colonization otherwise referred to as neo-colonization or imperialism. The continent’s postcolonial challenges include poor leadership, government instability, corruption, poor justice administrative system, underdevelopment, and poverty, among others. Prison memoir, which is a form of witness and resistance literature, particularly, the one written by Prisoners of Conscience (POC), is usually a documentation of these challenges including the trauma experienced as a result of torture experienced from bad leaders. Journalists, being part of society have not been excluded from the societal problems, principally, the torture and trauma experienced from undemocratic leaders. Some journalists have captured these experiences in their writings. However, while scholarship in African literature has paid attention to the various problems of Africa, it has not sufficiently explored torture and trauma in literary texts, mainly, the memoirs written by journalists. WodOkello Lawoko’s The Dungeon of Nakasero, a journalist memoir of sufferings, torture and trauma in the hands of their worst dictatorial military head of state, General Idi Amin, captures the highlighted African struggles and challenges. Therefore, against this backdrop, this study explores the nexus between torture and trauma in The Dungeon of Nakasero, a journalist’s prison memoir that presents the real-life ordeals of Ugandans during the reign of Idi Amin. The study relies on Carthy Caruth’s trauma theory to undertake a textual analysis of the text. Apart from depicting Idi Amin as the worst dictatorial head of state in Uganda, it further places him as one of the worst leaders in Africa. The text depicts journalism as one of the riskiest professions in the world and notes that only the unison of Africans can rid the continent of dictators and poor leadership. 

'Catastrophic Experience' of Structural Violence in Sadat Hasan Manto’s “Toba Tek Singh”

This paper aims to analyze, interpret, and examine the impact of structural violence in Sadat Hasan Manto’s story “Toba Tek Singh”. It particularly stresses the form of violence in which social structure or social institution harms the major character Bishan Singh by preventing him from meeting his basic needs of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The political decisions forced him to leave the nation where he lived before. He was deprived of his rights to preserve his nationality and pursuit of happiness. This paper also explores how Bishan gets inflicted by the decisions imposed by the rules in the name of democracy and people’s aspiration; and traumatizes the people of his strata. Further, it exposes the patriotic feeling of the homeland and brotherhood relationship within the same territory. For this, the concept of trauma theory was employed to explore how the people suffered from the decisions of the nations and felt pain when the intense desire of the common people was suppressed and forced to abide by the unwise decisions. This article argues that Manto uses the setting of the mental asylum to show the structural violence that is inherent in the social, political, and economic systems of the newly formed nations of India and Pakistan. The study, thus, contributes to the readers to understand multidimensional impacts of structural violence and enforces the rulers to rethink their prudent decisions in the law-making process.

Adult Learning for Self-Care and Healing Justice: Black Women Living With HIV/AIDS Amid a Global Pandemic Voices From CBOs’ Service Providers

The aim of this article was to identify the perceptions of community-based organization (CBO) service providers regarding their experiences with Black women living with AIDS (BWLHA) during a global pandemic. Two CBO service providers were selected for the study through a purposeful sampling technique. Black feminist theory, informal learning, and trauma theory helped frame the study, and narrative and cultural analyses were used for data analysis. Social isolation, medical and telehealth concerns, perceived social categorization of us and them, and informal strategies for healing were the emerging themes. Findings from this study have implications for adult educators, health educators, and mental health professionals as the global COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need to develop a trauma care plan (TCP) for BWLHA.

A student-led educational activity on trauma informed care: Reflections and recommendations.

The prevalence of trauma exposure is remarkably high globally. In Canada, for example, it is estimated that over 75% of the national population have experienced a traumatic event during their lifetime. While exposure to trauma is linked with a number of poor health-related problems, the teaching of trauma informed care (TIC) principles across Canadian medical schools is uncertain, and many primary care providers (PCP) feel underprepared to have discussions regarding trauma with their patient. The purpose of this report is to promote the teaching and better knowledge of TIC among health professional learners. A team of medical and health sciences students at a Canadian university hosted a virtual, interdisciplinary and educational Trauma Informed Care Conference (TICC) that was targeted toward health care learners using an interactive panel of interdisciplinary experts. A total of 107 participants attended the TICC. Select lectures were presented to improve participants' knowledge of TIC through a myriad of lenses, including historical, cultural, developmental/perinatal, intergenerational, and system-oriented sources. TIC was presented as promoting trauma awareness, trust, safety, collaboration, autonomy, and a strengths-based approach to care. We advocate for better awareness of TIC, the associated trauma theories, and implementation of the core values and principles of TIC in the training of health professionals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

April 9, 1989 as a Paradigmatic Event: “The Time We Live in Now Started That Night”

The events of the late 1980s-early 1990s played a key role in the history of Georgia. April 9, 1989, was one of the most important events in this respect. It defined the shared identity and memory for a long time and determined future developments in the country. April 9 proved to be a paradigmatic event in the recent history of Georgia. The narrative of trauma and triumph was formed, being reflected in historical, literary and documentary texts, as well as in different sites of memory. Two years later, at the very place of the tragedy, the restoration of independence of Georgia was declared. The paper deals with the process of the crystallization of April 9 as a paradigmatic event. Cultural patterns that played a crucial role in the establishment of the traumatic-triumphal narrative of April 9, 1989, and in the thirty-year dynamics of the attitudes towards this event are explored. The study presents how April 9 and its resonance influenced the perception of the past, as well as further developments. Theories of collective memory and cultural trauma serve as the theoretical framework for the research, while official documents, memoirs, literary texts and various types of media sources form its empirical basis

Continuum of Trauma: Fear and Mistrust of Institutions in Communities of Color During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Historical, cultural, and social trauma, along with social determinants of health (SDOH), shape health outcomes, attitudes toward medicine, government, and health behaviors among communities of color in the United States (U.S.). This study explores how trauma and fear influence COVID-19 testing and vaccination among Black/African American, Latinx/Indigenous Latin American, and Native American/Indigenous communities. Leveraging community-based participatory research methods, we conducted 11 virtual focus groups from January to March of 2021 with Black/African American (n = 4), Latinx/Indigenous Latin American (n = 4), and Native American/Indigenous (n = 3) identifying community members in Inland Southern California. Our team employed rapid analytic approaches (e.g., template and matrix analysis) to summarize data and identify themes across focus groups and used theories of intersectionality and trauma to meaningfully interpret study findings. Historical, cultural, and social trauma induce fear and mistrust in public health and medical institutions influencing COVID-19 testing and vaccination decisions in communities of color in Inland Southern California. This work showcases the need for culturally and structurally sensitive community-based health interventions that attend to the historical, cultural, and social traumas unique to racial/ethnic minority populations in the U.S. that underlie fear and mistrust of medical, scientific, and governmental institutions.

A Study of Trauma Writing in Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead, a well-known contemporary African American writer, who has won the Pulitzer Prize twice. The Nickel Boys won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019, and the novel takes the tragic experience of black teenagers in the Nickel Academy Reformatory School as the main line of the story. This paper applies Judith Herman’s trauma theory to analyze the physical and psychological trauma faced by the characters in the novel, as well as the causes of this trauma. The racism and prejudice that the black people suffered have been deeply affecting their living and mental state. At the same time, this paper discusses the possible ways to realize the recovery of trauma with the theory of trauma and recovery. Through the trauma study, we can see that under the combined stress of these traumas, African Americans suffer from a great blow in their body and spirit. The causes of the trauma are multidimensional and are the result of a combination of historical and social factors. For example, the segregation system is responsible for the trauma of African Americans. At the end of the paper, it discusses ways for black people to come out of trauma. Trauma recovery is a complex and difficult process in which black people must rely on their own efforts and help from the black community to achieve trauma recovery. It can be said that Whitehead’s exploration of the trauma recovery in the novels shows his realistic concern for African Americans and even human beings.

Child Sexual Abuse in Schools in India: A Critical Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the types and prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in India, with a focus on its widespread presence throughout the educational system. It also aims to identify and address societal, cultural, and familial risk factors for CSA. The report argues for increased awareness of minors' safety and rights, particularly those of girls, throughout their schooling years. Theoretical reference: This study employs a multidisciplinary approach, including findings from psychology, sociology, and education. It combines trauma theory, child development, and gender studies to examine the impact of CSA on minors in the educational context. Method: The study adopts a mixed-method approach, integrating qualitative interviews with survivors, instructors, and parents with a quantitative survey to examine CSA beliefs and knowledge levels. To obtain relevant insights, data is evaluated using thematic coding and statistical approaches. Result and conclusion: The study demonstrates a worrying incidence of CSA inside the Indian education system, emphasizing the critical need for intervention. It addresses significant risk factors, emphasizing the importance of education in protecting children. The findings highlight the need of effective reporting procedures and due process in protecting children's rights and safety. Implications of Research: This study emphasizes the need of educational institutions prioritizing minors' safety and well-being. It promotes the adoption of clear, accessible reporting systems as well as strong preventive initiatives. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of knowing and addressing teachers' and parents' views and knowledge levels in order to create a safe workplace. Originality: This study adds to the current body of knowledge by providing a thorough assessment of CSA inside the Indian school system. It gives deep insights into the special issues faced by minors, particularly girls, as well as effective preventative and intervention solutions. This research also emphasizes the critical role of educators and parents in fostering a safer learning environment.

The Effects of the Traumatic in the Weaving of Memorialistic Narratives

This paper analyzes the speech demands of young people participating in three different psychoanalytic research experiences to investigate social phenomena. The Memorialistic Narratives were adopted as the data collection method. Following the proposed strategy, such requests emerged after these young people narrated their life stories. It is observed that those who demand new speech spaces in the three studies in reference are those who went through traumatic experiences, with particular emphasis on young people who acquired disabilities due to gunshot wounds. Therefore, this study develops an analysis of these speech demands based on the Freudian theory of trauma.

Is teacher violence a form of betrayal trauma? Relationship with mental health problems among young adults

BackgroundChildhood trauma is one of the most preventable risk factors for mental health problems. Considering the substantial amount of time that young people spend in school during their early years, it is important to understand the potential impacts of teachers' behaviors on students' mental health. ObjectivesThis study examined the relationship between exposure to teacher violence and mental health problems. Participants and settingAn international sample of young adults aged 18 to 24 (N = 283). MethodsParticipants completed self-report measures of childhood trauma, exposure to teacher violence, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse. ResultsExposure to teacher violence could be reliably and validly measured using the Teacher Violence Scale (TVS). Current mental health problems – including depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse – were associated with exposure to teacher violence during high school years, but not with childhood non-betrayal trauma. ConclusionsOur findings expand the application of the betrayal trauma theory to school settings and point to the importance of preventing and managing teacher violence. It is important to provide more support and training to teachers and enhance monitoring measures in schools. More research on the prevalence and correlates of exposure to teacher violence is needed. We also provided first evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the English version of the TVS to facilitate future research.

The trauma and fragmentation narrative in Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife and Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Trauma theory, which emerged in the early 1990s, unveiled the deep-rooted violence characterising modern civilisation. As an essential subset of trauma studies, trauma literature acts as a testament to victims’ experiences. A narrative technique pivotal to this literature is the fragmented narrative, mirroring both the inherent nature of trauma and its external portrayal. This technique aptly captures the often-ineffable nature of traumatic experiences. This research scrutinises the application of fragmented narrative in two seminal works: Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife published in 1991 and Toni Morrison’s Beloved published in 1987. Through a lens focused on mother-daughter dynamics and trauma representation, the study illuminates the novels’ shared themes of motherhood and the agonising internal battles of trauma-afflicted mothers. Tan and Morrison, using fragmented narrative, vividly depict their protagonists’ harrowing traumas, and offer invaluable insights into the experiences of marginalised communities. The emphasis on trauma literature is pivotal, both for a comprehensive understanding of traumatic events and the advancement of trauma research. This underscores the paramountcy of acknowledging personal and communal traumas and championing a humane approach to trauma victims.

Repairing Historical Trauma in Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves

Abstract: Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves fictionalizes an historical account of three Native Americans who were hanged without trial by a white mob for the murder of various members of a white family. These acts become foundational traumas, part of patterns of colonial suppression that are transmitted intergenerationally and play out in repetitive dysfunctional relationships in the fictional white small town of Pluto, North Dakota, bordering a reservation. In order to unravel the complex threads of Erdich's narrative of repressed and displaced traumas that entangle different generations, races, and families, social and culturally oriented theories of trauma must be put in conversation with Native American studies' concepts of historical trauma and Native American/Ojibwe culture-specific healing strategies.

Om å bevitne systematisk vold og straffrihet – Martha Soto Gallos arkiv for sin forsvunne bror og Sara Uribes Antígona González

The article discusses the possibilities for finding words for and conveying trauma within a social and political context where the history of what happened is also at risk of disappearing. By comparing two different accounts of enforced disappearance – the Colombian Martha Soto Gallo’s archive for her missing brother and the Mexican literary text Antígona González (Uribe, 2012/2021) – we explore how the texts describe and move beyond the mechanisms of the modern lie and the tendency of trauma towards silencing. The study’s theoretical base is psychoanalytic trauma theory and testimony theory. We also engage in dialogue with Hanna Arendt’s thinking. The archive shows a repetitive pattern; the tireless search for an answer and the answers that never materialise or that pretend to be answers. We discuss how the figurative language of literature can shed light on the silences in the archive. The article reflects on the relationship between the disappeared and the trauma survivor. In dialogue with Carruth’s (2016) concept of traumatic awakenings, we suggest that the ethical imperative – as a result of witnessing severe traumatic experience – can be an engine for political activism, as it appears here in the survivors’ documentation practices. Keywords: trauma, enforced disappearance, psychoanalysis, testimony, Antígona González

Mental Illness, Trauma and Bollywood: Redefining the Role of Celluloid

The concept of mental illness and trauma appear to be tenebrous and stigmatized in India. People suffering from such illnesses are often “tagged as ‘lunatics,’ ‘crazy’, ‘possessed’ and many more by society. This leads to a vicious cycle of shame, suffering and isolation of the patients” (Hussain, 2021, p. 1). The dearth of awareness and sensitivity about the issue confound the situation for the victims inducing in them a sense of guilt and trauma. There is an urgency to revamp our understanding and representation of mental issues along with the physical problems or diseases. Bollywood, i.e., the Indian Hindi film industry, serving as a source of entertainment and mass education, has come forward to redefine its role by destigmatizing the mental illness and trauma by providing screen space to mould public perception and reception of these issues. The taboo and rather unheeded subject which has been overlooked and silenced since long is found to be represented in the select Bollywood films, such as, Kartik Calling Kartik (2010), Dear Zindagi (2016), Tamasha (2015), Anjana Anjanni (2010) and Judgemental Hai Kya (2019). This paper tends to analyse these films through the lens of trauma theory to examine how recurrent and intrusive recollections, flashbacks, night mares, sleep deprivation and dissociated and hyper-aroused state of the protagonists impair their mental health leading to their trauma. Translating “nervous shock” and “listening to the wounds of the other” (Luckhurst, 2018, p. 506) will be stressed in this paper. Besides, how these films contribute to the understanding of “post-traumatic growth,” “a positive psychological change that may occur in an individual after having processed and coped with trauma,” (Bryngeirsdottir & Halldorsdottir, 2021, p. 2) will be explored.

Reflections of Postcolonial Trauma in Lisa Ko’s The Leavers

The term "trauma" is used to describe ambiguous and long-term harms. The study of psychological trauma has led to the creative representation of literary trauma. Even though the cultural trauma theory is increasingly criticized as being unsuitable for the research agenda of postcolonial studies, the diversity and expanding number of responses to it in postcolonial criticism show the theory's continued appeal. The key question in the discussion of trauma theory and postcolonial literary studies is still whether trauma theory can be successfully "postcolonized" in the sense of being usefully combined with postcolonial theory. Maybe this is one of the unique abilities of literary criticism: to develop the capacity to recognize connections that we were previously unaware of. The search shows the significance of finding closure to transcend past ordeals. The search is an analytical study of Lisa Ko’s novel Leavers. It gives a brief background to the novel and the novelist which displays in what way the novel tackles postcolonial trauma. The main two characters who suffer trauma show the possibility of trauma recovery by achieving their closures. The novel succeeds in depicting trauma and achieving recovery through the main character’s pursuit to find his closure. The study also demonstrates that despite the multiplicity of traumatic causatives, victims have significant symptoms, and their lives and destiny are contingent on their abilities to achieve closure.

Time to Lay the Man to Rest: On Gender, Trauma and Father Figure in Spider-Verse

‘Being Spider-Man is sacrifice.’ said Miguel O’Hara in the latest Spider-Man movie Across the Spider-Verse. As the theme of trauma and loss was revealed in this Spider-Verse film, the film has also brought up the pattern that was shown in every Spider character’s story arc across the spider-verse: they all have to go through certain trauma to become independent beings and discover their nature as a ‘hero’. In the original Spider-Man story, it is through the death of his uncle Ben that Peter Parker discovers that “with great power comes great responsibility.” In the spider-verse narratives, it is revealed that all variants of Spider-Man have a similar traumatic moment of origin. The pattern that through every trauma there will be character growth, however, is problematic when applied to the female characters in the Spider-Verse story. Although they do go through traumatic events, their voices echo the sounds of patriarchal ideology ---- Instead of following their own pathway of character development often substituting their own desires in order to repeat the pattern of the classic Peter Parker storyline; supplanting their own values ideas, beliefs and identities and replicating a spider-man made ideological trope. Moreover, these Spider-women are often operating in the shadow of patriarchy, with no strong female role models to guide them into an alternative way of being. In the 2014 Amazing Spiderman#08, Mayday Parker, daughter of Peter Parker forcefully goes through the trauma of the death of her father. Similarly in Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy faced the trauma of the death of Peter Parker. But both of their development was influenced by society and father figures, which lead their development to an unsatisfying result ---- the repeat of Peter Parker. This paper will begin with the use of Helvie's trauma theory to examine the pattern of the classic Peter Parker storyline, followed by the close focus on female characters (Mayday Parker, Gwen Stacy) in the Spider-Verse comic line, and to see how they will eventually become the vessel that withholds nothing but patriarchal ideology under the influence of father figures.

The Traumatic Effect(s) of Childlessness in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and One is Enough

This paper interrogates the traumatic effect(s) of childlessness in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and One is Enough. It seeks to establish the idea that childlessness can lead to trauma as presented by Flora Nwapa in the two novels under. Nwapa captures the trauma that women who could not bear children in either their early years in marriages or in their entire married life go through in traditional Africa society. In patriarchal society, every marriage has a high hope of procreation or in order to sustain or continue the family linage. When this does not happen, it leads to psychological and emotional trauma in the life of the family especially the woman who is blamed to be the source of the childlessness. The study uses Laura S. Brown’s theory of trauma to explore and analyze the traumatic effects of childlessness in the two novels. One of the findings of this study is that women are always blamed for such situation. This leads to psychological and emotional pains and trauma. The women are psychologically and emotional destabilized, devastated and depressed. It makes the characters helpless and unfulfilled in their marriages and in the society as the joy of motherhood eludes them. This study has added to the corpus of knowledge on the relationship between childlessness and trauma. It would also help practioners in the field to know how to handle those that are in that state. Finally, the study posits that those that are childless should not be treated with disdain.