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Post-modernity and post-traumatic stress disorder

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  • Bracken, Patrick J.

Abstract

The after effects of trauma have assumed a central role in the discourses of psychiatry and psychology in recent years. Most commentators have looked for an explanation of this explosion of interest in trauma, to developments within psychiatry and psychology. However, it is argued here that important cultural changes in the Western world have produced the conditions in which this interest has come about. The advent of post-modernity has witnessed an undermining of social stability and coherence and a systematic weakening of those cultural institutions which provide meaning and order for individuals. Following trauma, the development of the characteristic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is currently understood to arise from a breakdown of meaning within the victim's world. I seek to establish an association between PTSD and the culture of post-modernity. I argue that this connection has important implications with regard to our understanding of the relationship between trauma and culture more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Bracken, Patrick J., 2001. "Post-modernity and post-traumatic stress disorder," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 733-743, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:53:y:2001:i:6:p:733-743
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    Cited by:

    1. Pedersen, Duncan & Tremblay, Jacques & Errázuriz, Consuelo & Gamarra, Jeffrey, 2008. "The sequelae of political violence: Assessing trauma, suffering and dislocation in the Peruvian highlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 205-217, July.
    2. David Pilgrim & Anne Rogers, 2005. "The Troubled Relationship between Psychiatry and Sociology," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 51(3), pages 228-241, September.
    3. Beiser, Morton & Wiwa, Owens & Adebajo, Sylvia, 2010. "Human-initiated disaster, social disorganization and post-traumatic stress disorder above Nigeria's oil basins," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 221-227, July.
    4. Pushpa Kanagaratnam & Joanna Anneke Rummens & Brenda TonerVA, 2020. "“We Are All Alive . . . But Dead†: Cultural Meanings of War Trauma in the Tamil Diaspora and Implications for Service Delivery," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    5. Batniji, Rajaie & Van Ommeren, Mark & Saraceno, Benedetto, 2006. "Mental and social health in disasters: Relating qualitative social science research and the Sphere standard," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1853-1864, April.
    6. Theodore T. Bartholomew, 2016. "Mental Health in Namibia," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 28(1), pages 101-125, March.
    7. Lynne Briggs & A. D. (Sandy) Macleod, 2006. "Demoralisation - A Useful Conceptualisation of Non-Specific Psychological Distress Among Refugees Attending Mental Health Services," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 52(6), pages 512-524, November.
    8. Purtle, Jonathan, 2016. "“Heroes' invisible wounds of war:” constructions of posttraumatic stress disorder in the text of US federal legislation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 9-16.
    9. Moscardino, Ughetta & Axia, Giovanna & Scrimin, Sara & Capello, Fabia, 2007. "Narratives from caregivers of children surviving the terrorist attack in Beslan: Issues of health, culture, and resilience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1776-1787, April.
    10. Kienzler, Hanna, 2008. "Debating war-trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in an interdisciplinary arena," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 218-227, July.

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