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Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2009

By
Laurence J. Kirmayer ,
Robert Lemelson  and
Mark Barad
Edited by
Laurence J. Kirmayer ,
Robert Lemelson  and
Mark Barad
Laurence J. Kirmayer
Affiliation:
James McGill Professor and Director Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Robert Lemelson
Affiliation:
Lecturer Departments of Anthropology and Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; President Foundation for Psychocultural Research
Mark Barad
Affiliation:
Associate Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Laurence J. Kirmayer
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Robert Lemelson
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Mark Barad
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world torn and scarred by violence. Globalization has increased the speed and scale of conflicts and catastrophes, but violence has been integral to the human condition from our earliest origins. We should expect, therefore, to find its traces in the design of our brains and bodies no less than in the weave of our communities.

Trauma has become a keyword through which clinicians and scholars from many disciplines approach the experience of violence and its aftermath. The metaphor of trauma draws attention to the ways that extremes of violence break bodies and minds, leaving indelible marks even after healing and recovery. But the notion of trauma has been extended to cover a vast array of situations of extremity and equally varied individual and collective responses. Trauma can be seen at once as a sociopolitical event, a psychophysiological process, a physical and emotional experience, and a narrative theme in explanations of individual and social suffering.

Within psychiatry, much recent work on the psychological impact of trauma has focused on the diagnostic construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event and symptoms from each of three groups: intrusive recollections of the trauma event, avoidance of reminders of the event and emotional numbing, and hyperarousal (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000).

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Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding Trauma
Integrating Biological, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives
 , pp. 1 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body
    • By Laurence J. Kirmayer, James McGill Professor and Director Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Robert Lemelson, Lecturer Departments of Anthropology and Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; President Foundation for Psychocultural Research, Mark Barad, Associate Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Edited by Laurence J. Kirmayer, McGill University, Montréal, Robert Lemelson, University of California, Los Angeles, Mark Barad, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Understanding Trauma
  • Online publication: 27 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500008.003
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  • Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body
    • By Laurence J. Kirmayer, James McGill Professor and Director Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Robert Lemelson, Lecturer Departments of Anthropology and Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; President Foundation for Psychocultural Research, Mark Barad, Associate Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Edited by Laurence J. Kirmayer, McGill University, Montréal, Robert Lemelson, University of California, Los Angeles, Mark Barad, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Understanding Trauma
  • Online publication: 27 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500008.003
Available formats
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  • Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body
    • By Laurence J. Kirmayer, James McGill Professor and Director Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Robert Lemelson, Lecturer Departments of Anthropology and Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; President Foundation for Psychocultural Research, Mark Barad, Associate Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Edited by Laurence J. Kirmayer, McGill University, Montréal, Robert Lemelson, University of California, Los Angeles, Mark Barad, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Understanding Trauma
  • Online publication: 27 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500008.003
Available formats
×