- Title
- Researching traumatic memory: reflections on practice
- Creator
- Coleborne, Catharine; Blakemore, Tamara
- Relation
- Health and History Vol. 20, Issue 2, p. 115-121
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.5401/healthhist.20.2.0115
- Publisher
- Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- This Afterword reflects on the theme of this Special Issue of Health and History in the light of what we see as a current rupture inside histories of mental health and psychiatry, one that is shared with the challenge of social work and practice. This rupture is caused by the 'still-present' memories of institutional trauma, and the effect that has on the writing of histories of psychiatry. Such trauma also shapes the everyday practice of social work. Institutional trauma in the case of social work might refer to forms of interaction with the institutions of welfare, law, medicine, education, and religion, that can render clients powerless. Dynamics of privacy, power, and control that characterise these institutional settings can create climates conducive to manipulation and maltreatment that is more severe, more frequent and more likely to occur over longer periods of time, all factors known to be associated with pervasive adverse impacts and outcomes for survivors. The lived realities of institutional abuse means that impacts can extend to families, loved ones, and the wider community-constituting intergenerational and shared or collective trauma. The focus of our reflection is on how we might build a methodology around researching traumatic memory in practice, and in the present. This work would start to work towards what editor of this Special Issue Elizabeth Roberts-Pedersen argues is a key element of contemporary trauma studies: theorising the relationship between theory and practice, both within and across disciplines.
- Subject
- psychological trauma; child molestion; child psychiatry; mental health services
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1404591
- Identifier
- uon:35368
- Identifier
- ISSN:1442-1771
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Publisher version (open access) | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |