Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Foreword by Robert Jay Lifton
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body
- SECTION I NEUROBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- 1 Neurobiological and Neuroethological Perspectives on Fear and Anxiety
- 2 Some Biobehavioral Insights into Persistent Effects of Emotional Trauma
- 3 Learning Not to Fear: A Neural Systems Approach
- 4 Mechanisms of Fear Extinction: Toward Improved Treatment for Anxiety
- 5 Developmental Origins of Neurobiological Vulnerability for PTSD
- 6 Does Stress Damage the Brain?
- 7 Somatic Manifestations of Traumatic Stress
- SECTION II CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- SECTION III CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- Epilogue: Trauma and the Vicissitudes of Interdisciplinary Integration
- Glossary
- Index
- References
6 - Does Stress Damage the Brain?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Foreword by Robert Jay Lifton
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Inscribing Trauma in Culture, Brain, and Body
- SECTION I NEUROBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- 1 Neurobiological and Neuroethological Perspectives on Fear and Anxiety
- 2 Some Biobehavioral Insights into Persistent Effects of Emotional Trauma
- 3 Learning Not to Fear: A Neural Systems Approach
- 4 Mechanisms of Fear Extinction: Toward Improved Treatment for Anxiety
- 5 Developmental Origins of Neurobiological Vulnerability for PTSD
- 6 Does Stress Damage the Brain?
- 7 Somatic Manifestations of Traumatic Stress
- SECTION II CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- SECTION III CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRAUMA
- Epilogue: Trauma and the Vicissitudes of Interdisciplinary Integration
- Glossary
- Index
- References
Summary
INTRODUCTION
In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) classified posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a psychiatric disorder for the first time, and listed criteria for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III (Saigh & Bremner, 1999). This is often hailed in the field of psychiatry as a historic time point, when it was first recognized that psychological trauma, that is, things that happen to you when there is no physical injury, can cause changes in your brain and physiological responding. This version of history, enthusiastically passed along as an oral tradition by clinicians and researchers who specialize in PTSD, with no discussion of the history of stress before 1980 or anywhere outside of the United States, is not entirely correct. As discussed elsewhere in this volume, there is a longer history of medical approaches to psychological trauma that stretches back 200 hundred years and includes Europe as well as the United States.
In 1988, the U.S. government allocated funding for research and treatment of PTSD in Vietnam veterans. This was in response to political pressure from Vietnam veterans and led to the establishment of the National Center for PTSD in 1988. The concentration of resources and expertise gave a boost to research in the field of PTSD. At that time, there was no general consensus in American culture that traumatic stress led to real psychiatric disorders. Clinical practices reflected this view.
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- Information
- Understanding TraumaIntegrating Biological, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives, pp. 118 - 141Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
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