‘What is trauma’? asks Johanna Kistner, reflecting on years of clinical work responding to the distress caused by political, economic and social upheaval on the African continent.
In this article the author does not aim to define trauma, but rather generates further questioning, in the interest of deepening our thinking and feeling as frontline carers and activists.
Definitions of trauma, traumatic stress, post-traumatic stress and complex traumatic stress abound in the academic and medical literature. The problem with these definitions is not that they do not have their use, but that they have been developed in certain contexts, often far removed from those in which they are eventually applied.
Jistner contrasts the rigidity and simplicity of diagnostic ‘tick boxes’ with the complexities of lived experiences of conflict, violence and marginalisation.
Through the reflections of her colleagues and the story of her client Josie she raises questions about practitioner-client relationships, definitions of trauma and healing, and confronting the dynamics of inequality and injustice that instigate and perpetuate mental and emotional distress.
Summary adapted from source.