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Ways of Being in Trauma-Based Society: Discovering the Politics and Moral Culture of the Trauma Industry Through Hermeneutic Interpretation of Evidence-Supported PTSD Treatment Manuals

Lord, Sarah Peregrine
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1403198245

Abstract Details

2014, Psy. D., Antioch University, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology.
One hundred percent of evidence-supported psychotherapy treatments for trauma related disorders involve the therapist learning from and retaining fidelity to a treatment manual. Through a hermeneutic qualitative textual interpretation of three widely utilized evidence-supported trauma treatment manuals, I identified themes that suggested a particular constitution of the contemporary way of being—a traumatized self—and how this traumatized self comes to light through psychotherapeutic practice as described by the manuals. The manuals included: 1) a trauma focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for children; 2) an eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy for adults; and, 3) an early intervention and debriefing therapy series for post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma related problems of military service members. Through the interpretation, I conceptualized trauma as a way of human being in contemporary culture, and in particular, as an unacknowledged way of expressing enactments of dissociated, unformulated, or unarticulated political arrangements and events. I identified and interpreted the following shared themes and exemplars across the three manuals: mind-brain as protector and the political use of cognitivist ideology; the healed trauma survivor as functional worker; trauma as universal and culture-free; and, indoctrination into a social void of scientistic managed care. I discussed how trauma treatment manuals instantiate how to be human in contemporary society through compliance with managed care and the embodiment of scientistic and cognitivist ideology. I then discussed how the way of being that contemporary society creates and idealizes is one in which people easily assume the identity of trauma survivor: an enterprising, functional and fiercely individual member of a warrior cult. In the warrior cult society, to think or talk about social causes and public solutions to daily political suffering is thought of as either non-germane or dangerous; individuals are seen as free from all dependencies and social ties, able to overcome personal and public adversity by arming or forifying their brain and replacing thoughts in their computer-like mind. In conclusion, I raised questions about how evidence-based trauma therapies may contribute to perpetuating a particular constitution of self that has disavowed society’s violent ethics and practices.
Philip Cushman, PhD (Committee Chair)
Jennifer Tolleson, PhD (Committee Member)
Lynne Layton, PhD, PhD (Committee Member)
533 p.
Cognitive Therapy; Mental Health; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Therapy
trauma culture; cognitivist ideology; warrior cult society; evidence-based therapy; treatment manuals; trauma-focused therapy; political psychology; trauma; PTSD; EMDR; CBT; Battlemind; hermeneutic; qualitative text analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lord, S. P. (2014). Ways of Being in Trauma-Based Society: Discovering the Politics and Moral Culture of the Trauma Industry Through Hermeneutic Interpretation of Evidence-Supported PTSD Treatment Manuals [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1403198245

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lord, Sarah. Ways of Being in Trauma-Based Society: Discovering the Politics and Moral Culture of the Trauma Industry Through Hermeneutic Interpretation of Evidence-Supported PTSD Treatment Manuals . 2014. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1403198245.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lord, Sarah. "Ways of Being in Trauma-Based Society: Discovering the Politics and Moral Culture of the Trauma Industry Through Hermeneutic Interpretation of Evidence-Supported PTSD Treatment Manuals ." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1403198245

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1403198245
2,104
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.