Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The complexity of multiple trauma understandings across disciplines – the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘case’

Stjernswärd, Sigrid LU orcid ; Meier, Marie LU orcid ; O'Donnell, Karen ; Wamsler, Christine LU ; Åkerström, Marja LU and Glasdam, Stinne LU (2023) In Nordic Journal of Social Research 14(1). p.1-14
Abstract
Trauma is a highly topical subject of growing relevance in different contexts and scientific traditions that deal with societal challenges and transformation. At the same time, knowledge on different understandings of trauma is still scarce and scattered across disciplines. Against this background, we present and discuss the complexity of trauma understandings from five selected disciplinary perspectives and its significance at individual, group, and societal level, using COVID-19 as an illustrative case. The article shows how trauma is understood from multiple perspectives by referring to different conditions and phenomena. At the same time, there are certain similarities across all disciplinary angles. Trauma refers to first-hand... (More)
Trauma is a highly topical subject of growing relevance in different contexts and scientific traditions that deal with societal challenges and transformation. At the same time, knowledge on different understandings of trauma is still scarce and scattered across disciplines. Against this background, we present and discuss the complexity of trauma understandings from five selected disciplinary perspectives and its significance at individual, group, and societal level, using COVID-19 as an illustrative case. The article shows how trauma is understood from multiple perspectives by referring to different conditions and phenomena. At the same time, there are certain similarities across all disciplinary angles. Trauma refers to first-hand individual or collective experiences of a crisis and/or a sense of external and internal disruption. Trauma often has severe consequences, but it simultaneously entails the possibility of transformation. The latter does not only relate to the individual, it can also involve groups, systems, and society at large. The COVID-19 case illuminates the complexity of trauma understandings and associated transformation, pointing to trauma as a floating signifier, which is largely open to different attributions of meaning depending on discipline and perspective. We conclude with a call for more integrated and nuanced inter- and transdisciplinary understandings of trauma to account for the concept’s complexity and its significance at individual, collective, intergenerational, and global levels. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nordic Journal of Social Research
volume
14
issue
1
pages
1 - 14
publisher
Universitetsforlaget AS
external identifiers
  • scopus:85175012775
ISSN
1892-2783
DOI
10.18261/njsr.14.1.4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
838dad24-8a53-45fa-9a6e-e56736798b75
date added to LUP
2023-08-28 09:48:48
date last changed
2024-02-14 15:09:22
@article{838dad24-8a53-45fa-9a6e-e56736798b75,
  abstract     = {{Trauma is a highly topical subject of growing relevance in different contexts and scientific traditions that deal with societal challenges and transformation. At the same time, knowledge on different understandings of trauma is still scarce and scattered across disciplines. Against this background, we present and discuss the complexity of trauma understandings from five selected disciplinary perspectives and its significance at individual, group, and societal level, using COVID-19 as an illustrative case. The article shows how trauma is understood from multiple perspectives by referring to different conditions and phenomena. At the same time, there are certain similarities across all disciplinary angles. Trauma refers to first-hand individual or collective experiences of a crisis and/or a sense of external and internal disruption. Trauma often has severe consequences, but it simultaneously entails the possibility of transformation. The latter does not only relate to the individual, it can also involve groups, systems, and society at large. The COVID-19 case illuminates the complexity of trauma understandings and associated transformation, pointing to trauma as a floating signifier, which is largely open to different attributions of meaning depending on discipline and perspective. We conclude with a call for more integrated and nuanced inter- and transdisciplinary understandings of trauma to account for the concept’s complexity and its significance at individual, collective, intergenerational, and global levels.}},
  author       = {{Stjernswärd, Sigrid and Meier, Marie and O'Donnell, Karen and Wamsler, Christine and Åkerström, Marja and Glasdam, Stinne}},
  issn         = {{1892-2783}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{1--14}},
  publisher    = {{Universitetsforlaget AS}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Social Research}},
  title        = {{The complexity of multiple trauma  understandings across disciplines – the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘case’}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.18261/njsr.14.1.4}},
  doi          = {{10.18261/njsr.14.1.4}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}