Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in psychological trauma

Article Abstract:

Pierre Janet's theories on psychological adaptations to trauma are reviewed one hundred years after the publication of his book, L'automatisme psychologique. The idea that mental disorders originate in traumatic experience was the core of Janet's research, which led him to a broader and more exact understanding of this process. His studies helped foster the creation of psychoanalysis when Freud became familiar with his extensive clinical work. Piaget also considered himself to be one of Janet's disciples. Janet's theories received renewed attention around 1980, when studies of Vietnam veterans and victims of physical and sexual abuse again revealed the devastating effect of traumatic experiences and led to the formal diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. Janet was the first person to study and explain dissociation and obsessive-compulsive disorders as psychological defenses. He was also among the first to observe that traumatized people seem to be attached to the trauma and unable to fully get on with their lives, ending up in a state of emotional depletion. He believed that patients could not be treated without an in-depth understanding of their pasts and he often interviewed families and acquaintances. He was very eclectic in his therapeutic approach and recommended lifestyle changes that would suit the patient's emotional strengths and weaknesses, and encouraged emotional awareness of past and present feelings and attitudes. He used hypnosis to optimize memories, and education to help patients put insights into action. It is suggested that Janet's observations and psychotherapeutic interventions are very relevant today and may yet be further validated by study in these areas. Contemporary scientists agree with Janet's notion that memory best processes the quality of experiences and the feelings associated with them, rather than the specific events; this has led to an understanding of nightmares, hallucinations, and psychosomatic and anxiety symptoms. Continuing studies of the effect of trauma on people at various developmental stages are needed to clarify these adaptation processes.

Research, Analysis, History, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Stress (Psychology), Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Obsessive compulsive disorder, Dissociation, Dissociation reactions, Emotional intelligence, Traumatic neuroses, Janet, Pierre Marie Felix

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The psychological sequelae of therapeutic abortion: denied and completed

Article Abstract:

When evaluating any medical procedure, both the effects of the procedure and the effects of not performing the procedure must be considered. With regard to abortion, despite great political and public debate, the literature has failed to address the effects of denying abortion on the parent and the child. The current paper is a review of the literature on abortion, with a focus on several questions, including the short- and long-term psychological effects of abortion; the proportion of women who seek abortions elsewhere when an abortion is denied; the number of fetuses born when abortion is denied that are later adopted; and the effects on the mother and child when abortion is denied. Using Medline, a medical information database, a search found 225 papers on abortion. Using only the studies that were original, used control groups, and had validated symptom measures, evidence was found to suggest that only a minority of women suffer adverse effects from abortion, mostly dysphoria (depressed mood) and distress, and that the symptoms usually predate the abortion and disappear afterward. The most distress after abortion was related to those performed for medical reasons, a mother with a history of psychiatric problems, and abortions performed during the mid-trimester. Up to 40 percent of women have abortions elsewhere when an abortion is initially denied and the majority of unwanted children who are born are raised by their biological mother. About 30 percent of these mothers report long-term negative feelings toward their child and difficulty adjusting. Broadly-based, long-term negative effects, such as problems in interpersonal functioning, social functioning, and occupational functioning are reported in children who would have been aborted if the mother had been allowed to chose. It is important that all health care professionals are aware of the effects of both performing and denying abortion. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Motherhood, Abortion, Therapeutic, Therapeutic abortion

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Trauma experiences, posttraumatic stress, dissociation, and depression in Cambodian refugees

Article Abstract:

People exposed to severe and lasting psychological trauma often suffer from a cluster of anxiety symptoms which are collectively referred to as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cambodian refugees constitute one group of people who have unquestionably been subjected to severe psychological trauma. Recent research has explored the relationships between psychiatric symptoms and traumatic experiences in Cambodian refugees who were psychiatric patients. This study examined traumatic experiences and psychiatric symptoms in Cambodian refugees who were not psychiatric patients. Fifty adult Cambodian refugees were randomly selected from a group of 500 and interviewed regarding experiences of trauma and psychiatric symptoms. More than 50 percent of the subjects stated they suffered 18 of the trauma items of the 21 listed. The nine most prevalent types of experiences were reported by at least 80 percent of the subjects and included having friends or relatives disappear. Forty-eight percent reported being physically assaulted, 62 percent reported having a friend killed trying to leave Cambodia, and 58 percent reported having a family member killed trying to leave Cambodia. Eight-six percent of the subjects met the criteria for PTSD and 80 percent met the criteria for clinical depression. The amount of trauma suffered by the subjects was positively correlated to severity of symptoms for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The results indicated that the levels of psychological disorder were extremely high for a nonpatient population. They also confirmed that there was a relationship between amount of trauma experienced and severity of psychiatric symptoms. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Risk factors, Demographic aspects, Mental illness, Mental disorders, Refugees, Cambodian, Cambodian refugees

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