The roots of trauma: a review of the history of psychotrauma

Abstract

Perceptions of the importance of the role of psychological trauma in the origins of psychiatric problems have oscillated throughout the history of psychiatry. However, since the conception of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), western societies have witnessed a marked expansion of the discourse of trauma in the interpretation of devastating human experiences like catastrophes, genocides, disasters, and epidemics. Through an integrative literature review, this article analyzes some of the historical and epistemological determinants behind the emergence of traumatic memory and the establishment of trauma as a semantic field that orients clinical responses and political strategies in the field of the humanities and the health sciences.