The first chapter of the book ‘The Empire of Trauma’ by Fassin and Rechtoman, examines the origin or the genealogy of the concept of trauma. The authors wrote that the concept of trauma has a dual genealogy, one that is scientific and one that is moral. Both the scientific and moral genealogy are rooted in the nineteenth century Europe. Fassin and Rechtoman argue that the “reconfiguration of the relationship between trauma and victim, in which the victim gains legitimacy as trauma comes to attest the truth of his or her version”, because of Derek Summerfield’s story.
The chapters starts off with the story a psychiatrists by the name of Derek Summerfield, who published an article asserting that the post-traumatic stress disorder is a construct …show more content…
The scientific genealogy came through early twentieth-century psychiatry and psychologists Charcot, Freud and Janet. All three established the psychic trauma is real and the concept of trauma transitioned from neurosis to post-traumatic stress. Charcot studied the condition of a railroad accident victims called ‘rail way spine’ or is it was later known as ‘railway the effects on the nervous system following the accidents. He categorized is in the hysteria department. He believed that hysteria is not determined by the sex or strength of a person and that it can happen to anyone. For Pierre Janet, hysteria originated from psychic trauma and that the trauma presented the adult’s response to something that happen in early childhood. In short, both Janet and Freud believed that the hysterical is a psychological response to an external trauma. Freud in the beginning linked hysteria to sexual trauma, or the seduction theory. He believed that in adulthood certain events can provoke symptoms similar to ‘those of hysteria’ (pp. 32). Freud later abandoned the seduction theory and embraced the fantasy hypothesis and he believed that “hysteria was already sick from the sexual before encountering the abuse that would give rise to the symptoms of
The chapters starts off with the story a psychiatrists by the name of Derek Summerfield, who published an article asserting that the post-traumatic stress disorder is a construct …show more content…
The scientific genealogy came through early twentieth-century psychiatry and psychologists Charcot, Freud and Janet. All three established the psychic trauma is real and the concept of trauma transitioned from neurosis to post-traumatic stress. Charcot studied the condition of a railroad accident victims called ‘rail way spine’ or is it was later known as ‘railway the effects on the nervous system following the accidents. He categorized is in the hysteria department. He believed that hysteria is not determined by the sex or strength of a person and that it can happen to anyone. For Pierre Janet, hysteria originated from psychic trauma and that the trauma presented the adult’s response to something that happen in early childhood. In short, both Janet and Freud believed that the hysterical is a psychological response to an external trauma. Freud in the beginning linked hysteria to sexual trauma, or the seduction theory. He believed that in adulthood certain events can provoke symptoms similar to ‘those of hysteria’ (pp. 32). Freud later abandoned the seduction theory and embraced the fantasy hypothesis and he believed that “hysteria was already sick from the sexual before encountering the abuse that would give rise to the symptoms of