Reconstructing Trauma And Meaning

Repressive regimes, regardless of their nature and geographic location, have a destructive and dehumanizing effect on people’s lives. Oppression and political violence shatter victims’ identities, their relationships, communities and the meaning of their world as a safe and coherent place. However, while some people suffer traumatising long term effects, others become stronger and more resilient, able to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of tragedy. Reconstructing Trauma and Meaning is an invitation to revisit, bear witness and listen to the stories of suffering and healing of survivors of apartheid repression in South Africa. This work is an exploration of the life trajectories of former victims of gross human rights violations during apartheid and their creative ways of reconstructing meaning after trauma. Their life narratives, shaped by social, political and cultural realities, are a valuable contribution to the collective memory of the nation, as an intrinsic part of the continuous process of reconciliation and transformation in South Africa.

Reconstructing Meaning After Trauma: Theory, Research, and Practice informs actual therapeutic work with clients who present with traumas or other life disruptions by providing clinicians with information on the construction of meaning. It includes material on diverse mechanisms of clinical change and positive-promoting processes. The book covers identifiable treatments and specific lines of research in assisting clients in developing new meaning, such as posttraumatic growth (after sexual assault, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, destructive natural phenomena, such as hurricanes, and refugee experiences), and finding benefit (in the context of loss—loss of health, or loss of a loved one). Addresses a specific treatment or line of research Includes extended case vignettes at the beginning of each chapter Describes the associated theoretical background for each method Summarizes the research supporting each mechanism Concludes with a discussion of future directions for treatment, research, and theory

People--laymen and practitioners alike--face serious difficulties in making sense of each other's feelings, behavior, and discourse in everyday life and after traumatic experiences. Acknowledging and working through these difficulties is the subject of this extremely interesting and highly readable book. After a critical look at the psychological and philosophical literature, Dan Bar-On identifies two groups of impediments. First, the indescribable, as it appears when individuals try to understand and integrate their first heart attack into their previous life-experience, when a group of pathfinders talk about their different maps of the mind and nature, or when a team of welfare practitioners tries to develop a common approach to their regional population. Second, the undiscussable, as it appears in the transmission, from generation to generation, of the traumatic experiences of the families of both Holocaust survivors and Nazi perpetrators, the book showing how their descendants can work through the burden of the past by confronting themselves and each other through a prolonged group encounter. This book provides a unique way of looking at life experiences, individual as well as inter-personal. It proposes a new psychological theoretical framework in a way to which both laymen and professionals can relate while confronting similar issues in their everyday experiences and discourse. The book is of especial relevance to present-day Central and East European societies, relating as it does to the problems of psychological adaptation arising from the transition from totalitarian to democratic regimes.

A prominent theme presented in this volume is that symptoms in the bereaved individual have meaning-making significance and that meaning reconstruction in response to loss is the central process in grieving. More scientifically oriented readers will find comprehensive discussions of research programs supporting these tenets, particularly those linking grief with responses to loss involved in trauma. Practitioners will find clinically informed models and ample case descriptions to bridge concepts with real people suffering real loss. All will find new paradigms for approaching loss and reconstruction of meaning in a respectful, revealing way that has significance both personally and professionally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).

This book is a collection of chapters by playwrights, directors, devisers, scholars, and educators whose praxis involves representing, theorizing, and performing social trauma. Chapters explore how psychic catastrophes and ruptures are often embedded in social systems of oppression and forged in zones of conflict within and across national borders. Through multiple lenses and diverse approaches, the authors examine the connections between collective trauma, social identity, and personal struggle. We look at the generational transmission of trauma, socially induced pathologies, and societal re-inscriptions of trauma, from mass incarceration to war-induced psychoses, from gendered violence through racist practices. Collective trauma may shape, protect, and preserve group identity, promoting a sense of cohesion and meaning, even as it shakes individuals through pain. Engaging with communities under significant stress through artistic practice offers a path towards reconstructing the meaning(s) of social trauma, making sense of the past, understanding the present, and re-visioning the future. The chapters combine theoretical and practical work, exploring the conceptual foundations and the artists’ processes as they interrogate the intersections of personal grief and communal mourning, through drama, poetry, and embodied performance.

This book is intended for psychologists, social workers, counsellors, clergy, and general readers with some background in psychology.

The Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology, available online through Wiley Online Library or as a three-volume print set, is a state-of-the-art resource featuring almost 300 entries contributed by leading international scholars that examine the psychological dimensions of peace and conflict studies. First reference work to focus exclusively on psychological analyses and perspectives on peace and conflict Cross-disciplinary, linking psychology to other social science disciplines Includes nearly 300 entries written and edited by leading scholars in the field from around the world Examines key concepts, theories, methods, issues, and practices that are defining this growing field in the 21st century Includes timely topics such as genocide, hate crimes, torture, terrorism, racism, child abuse, and more A valuable reference for psychologists, and scholars, students, and practitioners in peace and conflict studies An ALA 2013 Outstanding Reference Source

Throughout the study of trauma theology runs a lineage that is deeply feminist. As traumatic experience is being more frequently acknowledged in public, this book seeks to articulate an explicit understanding of feminist trauma theology for the first time. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, this book explores the relationship between trauma and feminist theologies, highlighting methodological, theological, and practical similarities between the two. The #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, sexual abuse scandals, gender based violence, pregnancy loss, and the oppression of women in Church spaces are all featured as important topics. With contributions from a diverse team of scholars, this book is an essential resource for all thinkers and practitioners who are trying to navigate the current conversations around theology, suffering, and feminism. With a foreword by Shelly Rambo, author of Resurrecting Wounds