Birthplaces of Our Fear: Reception of Yuri Dud’s Documentary “Kolyma” in Social Media

The article examines reception of the online documentary "Kolyma — the birthplace of our fear" (produced by journalist Yuri Dud in 2019) in social networks. In their comments, internet users regard other topics along with the Soviet repressions, to which the film is dedicated. They discuss the traumatic experience of the recent past, namely the late Soviet period, the collapse of the USSR, the 1990s, and contemporary problems. As a result of analysis of YouTube comments, we identify two trauma narratives. The first narrative is based on the idea of violation of civil human rights, the second focuses on the violation of socio-economic rights. Different topics appear in comments and posts on social media depending on which rights viewers consider key and which they pay more attention to when watching the documentary. In the case of civil rights, these include contemporary political repressions in Russia, names of famous political prisoners, references to recent protests. In the case of socio-economic rights, these topics include privatization, oligarchs, economic reforms, inequality. Those users who comment about the violation of socio-economic rights generally express a positive attitude towards the USSR and a critical attitude towards capitalism. Topics such as corruption or the problems of the penitentiary system in Russia are “inbetween” — they are important symbols in both narratives. The study clarifies how the cultural trauma narrative of the recent past and present-day events is formed. We also demonstrate how this process takes place on social media, and how social media enables participation of ordinary users and not only public figures.

Ancestral Selfies and Historical Traumas: Who Do You Feel You Are?

The potential for ‘historical trauma’ is deeply rooted within the evolved human mind, which constructs its reality through narrative in the shape of personally and culturally relevant stories. From its roots within psychoanalytic theory and practice and through its clear links with infant attachment, historical trauma can be theoretically linked with stress biology and the concept of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Via this trajectory, it has the potential to become more commonly drawn upon in the field of public health, despite inconclusive attempts to link it to social epigenetics. It is proposed that when the historical trauma narrative invades family histories via negative experiences that have deeply impacted upon the lives of ancestors, descendants may be drawn to ‘traumatic reenactment’ through fantasy. This is explored with reference to my own recently published novel, examining its content through the perspective of the ‘psychic work’ it represents with respect to reconciling the self to the traumatic experiences of ancestors.

Supervisory alliance as a moderator of the effects of behavioral rehearsal on TF-CBT fidelity: results from a randomized trial of supervision strategies

The present study examined relations between supervisory alliance and fidelity to the trauma narrative component of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, as well as how supervisory alliance might moderate the effect of behavioral rehearsals (i.e., role plays) on fidelity. Forty-two supervisors and 124clinicians from 28 different community-based mental health offices across Washington State participated.Clinicians were randomized to receive one of two supervision conditions—symptom and fidelity monitoring or symptom and fidelity monitoring with behavioral rehearsal. Supervisory alliance alone did not predict adherence or extensiveness of the trauma narrative. One aspect of alliance, client focus, significantly altered the effect of supervision condition on adherence (p=0.05); however, this effect was only seen in 43.5% of clinicians. A second aspect of alliance, rapport, altered the effect of condition on trauma narrative extensiveness with moderate significance (p=0.09). Future research should investigate strategies to improve supervisory alliance or match supervision strategies to specific supervisor-clinician dyads.

Recounting coup as the recirculation of Indigenous vitality: A narrative alternative to historical trauma

Contemporary American Indians suffer from disproportionately high degrees of psychiatric distress. Mental health researchers and professionals, as well as American Indian community members, have consistently associated these disproportionate rates of distress with Indigenous historical experiences of European and Euro-American colonization. This emphasis on the impact of colonization and associated historical consciousness within tribal communities has occasioned increasingly widespread professional consideration of historical trauma among Indigenous peoples. In contrast to personal experiences of a traumatic nature, the discourse of Indigenous historical trauma (IHT) weds the concepts of “historical oppression” and “psychological trauma” to explain community-wide risk for adverse mental health outcomes originating from the depredations of past colonial subjugation through intergenerational transmission of vulnerability and risk. Long before the emergence of accounts of IHT, however, many American Indian communities prized a markedly different form of narrative: the coup tale. By way of illustration, I explore various historical functions of this speech genre by focusing on Aaniiih-Gros Ventre war narratives, including their role in conveying vitality or life. By virtue of their recognition and celebration of agency, mastery, and vitality, Aaniiih war stories functioned as the discursive antithesis of IHT. Through comparative consideration of the coup tale and the trauma narrative, I propose an alternative framework for cultivating Indigenous community “survivance” rather than vulnerability based on these divergent discursive practices.

Understanding therapists’ perceived determinants of trauma narrative use

Background Trauma narratives are a critical, exposure-based component of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy, yet community therapists rarely use them. Given evidence that intentions to deliver elements of cognitive behavioral therapy vary by component, and that intentions to deliver exposure are the weakest, this study focused specifically on trauma narratives. We drew on a social psychology causal theory (Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)) and an implementation science framework (the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)) to glean insight into multilevel influences on trauma narrative use. While the CFIR offers a broad list of factors potentially affecting implementation, the TPB offers causal pathways between individual-level constructs that predict behavior, including the uptake of an evidence-based intervention. The integration of these approaches may provide a more complete understanding of factors affecting therapists’ use of TNs. Methods Therapists (n=65) trained in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy completed a survey about their use of and beliefs about trauma narratives. Content analysis was used to identify common beliefs about trauma narratives. A subset of participants (n=17) completed follow-up qualitative interviews, which were analyzed using an integrated approach informed by the CFIR. Results While most participants reported high intentions to use TNs, nearly half reported that they did not use TNs in the last 6 months. Survey data indicate a number of TPB-related determinants related to using trauma narratives. Qualitative interviews identified CFIR-relevant contextual factors that may influence constructs central to TPB. Conclusions These results highlight the importance of integrating approaches that address multiple theoretical determinants of therapist behavior, including therapist, organizational, and client factors with causal explanations to explain implementation behavior.

Jeremiah

This chapter explores the various dimensions of the narrative portrayal of Jeremiah as a traumatized prophet. The author proposes that the book of Jeremiah could be considered as an extended trauma narrative with the prophet as one of its leading characters, seeking to make sense of the exceedingly traumatic events associated with the Babylonian invasion and exile that threatened to subsume Jeremiah and his fellow Judeans. Particularly what have been called the Confessions of Jeremiah (Jer 11:18–20; 12:1–6; 15:10–21, 17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–13) seem to be particularly suited to be read in terms of the rhetorical strategies identified by Laurie Vickroy, according to which characters in trauma narratives are shown to react to wound-inflicting circumstances. The author argues that these various dimensions of Jeremiah as Traumatized Prophet are not only central to an understanding of the book of Jeremiah, but also may help readers, both then and now, deal with the reality of trauma that includes the various options for sense-making amidst trauma.

Representing the Incomprehensible

Criticism of Michael Herr’s Dispatches (2015) and Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007) can be divided into two mainstream interpretations. On the one hand, they are both marked as psychic trauma texts. Herr’s writing of Dispatches can be read as a therapeutic process that allows him to deal with his trauma experienced as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War. The intimate and domestic trauma in DeLillo’s Falling Man focuses on the disconnected lives of a couple and their child in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center. On the other hand, critics have aligned each text with the national trauma narrative. This article aligns itself with the latter interpretation. I propose, through a postmodern reading, that the national trauma narrated in both Dispatches and Falling Man is an example of Lyotard’s “incredulity toward metanarratives” (xxix). I argue that both texts represent the failure of the metanarrative of American Exceptionalism; the ideology that defines the essence of America as the embodiment of “supremacy” and “power”. Narrative fails in each text when the nature of each conflict deconstructs this metanarrative of national identity. This deconstruction arises from the way conflict appears to alienate Herr as author, and DeLillo’s characters from preconceived notions of knowledge. As a result of this, both authors explore the fictive nature of the human condition to present the national trauma caused by each conflict.

Trauma, Narrative and History: Representation of Traumatic Experience in the Works of Algirdas Landsbergis

The twentieth century witnessed an abundant number of traumatic events related to dark history. Trauma caused by war, occupation, exile, repression, gave rise to migration or mass murder. To rely upon Cathy Caruth (1996: 3), the concept of trauma is understood as a physical wound; however, subsequently in medicine and the literature of psychiatry, especially in Freud’s works, the concept of trauma came to be understood as a psychological wound. In addition, trauma is not only a disturbing or stressful experience that affects an individual physically or psychologically, it may also be based on other factors created by society. Over time the field of trauma in various contexts expanded so that today it is widely used in sociology when analysing historical and cultural events. Cultural traumatic memory is mirrored in trauma fiction that conveys the experience of loss and suffering, there is a space for memories, introspection, recollections, flashbacks and awful remembrances that are colored by pain. Apart from individual, event-based trauma, there is another category of trauma variously called cultural or historical trauma, which affects groups of people. Numerous studies have been conducted on the latter topic, however, trauma and its expression in Lithuanian literature has not yet been sufficiently documented. The aim of this study is to discuss the concepts of cultural and historical trauma and the way trauma is reflected in Algirdas Jeronimas Landsbergis’ works. The authors of the study claim that Landsbergis – one of many Lithuanian writers-in-exile – wrote texts that fill a cultural vacuum and invite a re-discussion of what was most painful in the past.

Changes in trauma-related cognitions and emotions after eliciting moral elevation: Examining the effects of viewing others’ virtuous behavior on veterans with PTSD

Moral elevation is described as feeling inspired after witnessing someone perform a virtuous act. Past work suggests moral elevation may be antithetical to PTSD, yet few studies have directly tested its impact on relevant symptoms. This experimental stud¬y assessed changes in trauma-related cognitions and emotions from after a trauma reminder task to after an elevation induction exercise. We hypothesized that higher elevation after the induction exercise would be associated with greater reductions in cognitions and emotions. Veterans with probable PTSD (N=64) completed measures of trauma-related cognitions and emotions, once after a written trauma narrative exercise (T1) and again after watching two videos designed to elicit elevation (T2). Veterans also completed measures of state elevation after each video. Results suggest veterans experienced small significant decreases in self-blame, medium significant decreases in guilt, shame, and negative beliefs about others, and large significant decreases in negative beliefs about self between T1 and T2. As hypothesized, higher elevation predicted significantly greater reductions in all outcomes except self-blame, with a large effect for views of self and medium effects for guilt, shame, and views of others. These findings suggest elevation may be well-suited to target trauma-related symptoms and future research should examine its clinical utility.

Resilience predicts posttraumatic cognitions after a trauma reminder task and subsequent positive emotion induction among veterans with PTSD

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common problem for veterans. Resilience, the tendency to bounce back from difficult circumstances, is negatively associated with posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) among individuals with a history of trauma, and thus it may be important to understand responses to trauma reminders. Method: Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined the association between trait resilience and state PTCs in veterans with PTSD (n = 47, Mage = 48.60, 91.8% male) at two points: following a written trauma narrative exposure (Time 1 [T1]), and following a subsequent positive distraction task (i.e., brief, positive video) (T2). Results: After controlling for PTSD symptom severity and combat exposure, resilience was negatively associated with PTCs at T1 (ΔR2 = .19) and T2 (ΔR2 = .13). However, resilience was a poor predictor of change in PTCs from T1 to T2. We also examined the relationship between resilience and subtypes of PTCs: resilience was associated with negative views of the self (T1, ΔR2 = .24) but not negative views of the world or self-blame (T1, ΔR2s < .07); these results were consistent at T2. Conclusions: Thus, resilience may attenuate negative trauma-related cognitions after trauma recall; however, this study was not designed to test causal pathways. Future research could examine whether resilience-building exercises reduce negative PTCs after trauma reminders among veterans. Additional research is needed to generalize to other trauma-exposed populations.