The Concept of Trauma
The meaning of the term derived from the Greek can be translated as ‘injury’ or ‘wound’.1Duden 2001, p. 1008 Psychological traumas describe an individual’s painful experience, often connected with a permanent change in one’s perception of the surroundings. Trauma is a violent infringement of the psychological structure of the individual, combined with an overwhelming feeling of consternation and helplessness. The available psychosocial flexibility of the individual is disabled by the trauma.2Horie 1997, p. 13
Because of the trauma, the person experiences a reality they are unable to control. Dominant elements of traumas are helplessness, loss of control and fear of the threat of extermination: emotions that deprive people of their sense of security.3Horie 1997, p. 13. From a scientific point of view, psychological traumas are about the loss of the possibility of satisfying your needs. In attempting to satisfy those needs, distressing fears and aggression arise. If that does not happen, defence mechanisms4The concept stems from the psychoanalysis. of the Ego structure5According to Freud, three basic forces located in the subconscious, form the personality: instinctive needs, rational thought, and moral standards. These dynamics form the behaviour, feeling and thinking of the individual. The ‘I’ distinguishes itself from the id (instinctive needs, urges, impulses) in the first years of life of infantile development of the psyche. Gratification of the Self-impulses is bound up with conformity to reality. To control undesirable id-impulses the ‘I’ develops basic strategies – the defence mechanisms (see Comer 2001, p. 46). will be enabled in order to abandon the need for this satisfaction.6Arnold, et al 1997, p. 2356 These defence mechanisms are methods the Ego uses to counteract the demands of the Id,7‘With the concept of “id” Freud meant instinctive needs, urges and impulses. The id always aims at [immediate; author’s remark] gratification. Freud was […] convinced that all id-instincts are essentially of a sexual nature […] With the concept of libido Freud meant the sexual energy, that […] feeds the id’ (Comer 2001, p. 46). thus avoiding conflicts with the Superego and reality.8Arnold, et al 1997, p. 16. The Ego structure has several defence mechanisms that are formed in specific development stages during childhood. The foremost of these are: repression, denial, fantasy, rationalisation, primal repression, identification, regression, reaction formation, isolation, introjection, projection, displacement, and sublimation.9Comer 2001, p. 48 f; Arnold, et al 1997, p. 16.
Victims of traumatic experiences may develop a post-traumatic stress disorder. Such persons develop a delayed stress reaction which always recurs and remains latently present, long after the traumatic event. They experience emotional numbness in the face of common events, that may be accompanied by a sense of alienation. The side effects may be intensified because of the emotional pain of the reaction to the trauma. These could include sleep problems, survivors’ guilt, concentration problems, and heightened startle reactions. The clinical symptoms outlined here may be understood to be conditioned responses to life-threatening impulses.10See Zimbardo/Gerrig 1999, p. 379.
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