Journal of Trauma and Dissociation
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Browsing Journal of Trauma and Dissociation by Subject "trauma"
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Item Open Access Toward a Theory of Institutions: Institutional Betrayal and Dispersions of Accountability at Johns Hopkins University(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021-06-20) Smith, Robert D.To more fully understand how trauma can be inflicted by institutional betrayal, in this article I suggest that we first must ask who or what is the institution. To understand this, I analyze two recent events at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the establishment of a university private police force and funding cuts to the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Graduate Teaching Fellowships (WGS). Paradoxically, JHU claimed it was necessary to establish a private police force because of a lack of accountability of the Baltimore Police Department; however, simultaneously JHU was unaccountable to direct JHU affiliates by ignoring their explicit disapproval of a private police force. JHU imagined themselves as accountable to an ambiguous ‘us’ beyond direct JHU affiliates and dispersed its accountability, evidenced by advocating for state legislature and making mayoral campaign donations. This lack of accountability was rearticulated in discussions about WGS cuts, when JHU embraced a rhetoric of the market to substantiate their claims and evade the questions of direct JHU affiliates. These cases show how articulations of who the institution imagines itself as accountable to are dynamically mutating, yet build upon precedents that set the conditions of possibility for how trauma is produced and mediated. I conclude by suggesting that it is important to move beyond a monolithic conception of the institution, and to be attuned to how dispersions of institutional accountability create new terrains where institutional contestation take place as well as the institution's strategic rupturing of the concept of the institutional citizen.Item Open Access Psychological trauma at different developmental stages and ICD-11 CPTSD: The role of dissociation(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021-06-18) Jowett, Sally; Karatzias, Thanos; Shevlin, Mark; Hyland, PhilipBackground: Dissociation is commonly reported by individuals who meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). However, the association between the age of trauma exposure, dissociation, and CPTSD is not well understood. This study aimed to test whether dissociation mediated the relationship between the developmental stage of trauma exposure and CPTSD symptoms. Method: A nationally representative sample from Ireland (N = 1020) completed self-report measures on trauma exposure in childhood, adolescence, adulthood, current trauma symptomatology, and dissociation symptoms. A mediation analysis was conducted. Results: Childhood, adolescent, and adulthood trauma exposure were all related to dissociation and ICD-11 CPTSD symptom clusters. Dissociation mediated the effect of developmental stage of trauma exposure on PTSD and disturbances in selforganization( DSO). The direct and indirect effect models provided the best fit of the data. Childhood trauma exposure was the only developmental stage that was directly associated with both PTSD and DSO symptoms in our sample. Conclusion: Dissociation mediates the relationship between reported trauma exposure and the presence of ICD-11 CPTSD symptom clusters, and this relationship appears at its strongest when trauma occurs in childhood. CPTSD interventions should also promote dissociation management to aid recovery from this debilitating condition.Item Open Access A Preliminary Investigation of Depression in People with Pathological Dissociation(Taylor & Francis Group, 2020-05-13) Fung, Hong Wang; Chan, Chitat; Ross, Colin A.; Choi, Tat MingDepression is a common and challenging comorbid condition in people with pathological dissociation. To our knowledge, this preliminary study is the first study that has looked at the clinical correlates of depression in a sample of people with pathological dissociation (N = 72). We found that severe depression is common in this sample and that depression is associated with dissociative symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, borderline personality disorder symptoms and clinical recovery; the level of depression is also associated with both childhood and adulthood betrayal trauma but not with childhood and adulthood trauma with less betrayal. PTSD symptoms are the most significant correlates of the level of depression in this sample. Some clinical implications are discussed. Our initial findings imply that it may be important to manage depression by preventing adulthood betrayal trauma and stabilizing PTSD and dissociative symptoms when working with service users with pathological dissociation. Further studies are needed.Item Open Access Posttraumatic Growth, Dissociation and Identification With The Aggressor Among Childhood Abuse Survivors(Taylor & Francis Group, 2023-02-28) Eliav, Ayala Sultana; Lahav, YaelChildhood abuse puts individuals at risk for psychopathology and psychiatric symptoms such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety symptoms. At the same time, research has indicated that some survivors report positive transformations in the aftermath of their trauma, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Yet the essence of PTG reports is questionable, and some scholars claim that it may reflect maladaptive illusory qualities. Furthermore, according to a recent theoretical model, PTG might be dissociation-based and related to survivors’ bonds with their perpetrators. This study aimed to explore these claims by assessing PTG, dissociation, and identification with the aggressor (IWA), as well as PTSD and anxiety symptoms. An online survey was conducted among 597 adult childhood abuse survivors. Study variables were assessed via self-report measures. Analyses indicated positive associations between PTG, dissociation, and IWA. Three distinct profiles were found, reflecting high, medium, and low scores on PTG, dissociation, and IWA. Profile type explained PTSD and anxiety symptoms above and beyond gender, age, and abuse severity. These findings suggest that whereas some childhood abuse survivors might experience a positive transformation subsequent to their trauma, others’ PTG reports might reflect dissociative mechanisms and pathological attachments to their perpetrators, and thus might be maladaptive.