#trauma studies

[funeral]

David Janzen, The Violent Gift: Trauma's Subversion of the Deuteronomistic History's Narrative

[theweightofdivinity]

[dionyrtal]

this absolute endnote banger from the article i was reading for my final paper

In Performing Bodies in Pain, Carlson foregrounds the performative aspect of pain: "Some pains curl us inward to lick our wounds and heal, but others scream for attention. We dissimulate, and we display, minimize and fake it. We react, and we read the pain of others. Pain is a performance that we interpret, both when it happens within ourselves and when we witness the pain of others" (155).

[pixels-and-pages]

(A summary of my bachelor’s thesis key findings)

In my paper, “Trauma and Healing in the Action-Adventure Game The Last of Us 2”, I explore how the game represents psychological trauma through its narrative and gameplay elements. Additionally, I hint at the possibility that not only the characters within the game but also the players are experiencing trauma second-hand and are working towards healing.

In the first part, I outline major concepts in trauma theory by referring to some of the most prominent figures in trauma studies. The most important key concepts are: repetition compulsion (Freud), acting out and working through (LaCapra), and survivor guilt (Herman and Lifton).

In the analytical part, I emphasize that the narrative structure of the game is a tool of traumatic storytelling in itself. The fragmented, nonlinear, and emotionally intense narrative mirrors traumatic memory, enhancing the emotional rollercoaster ride by switching between and intertwining two storylines: those of Ellie and Abby. Both are on a quest for revenge, but only Abby reaches her goal, whereas Ellie painfully experiences the emotional downfall of losing herself in her quest. This (bold) choice of telling a highly-emotional narrative encourages empathy for both characters while simultaneously blurring moral lines.

The traumatic event for both involves the death of their father(figure), and both characters seek to avenge the seemingly unjustly death of a loved one. Additionally, Ellie suffers from survivor's guilt, both from the events of the first game and the second, where she was unable to aid Joel, involuntarily experiencing his death first-hand. The repetition compulsion, then, is the need to repeat the traumatic event to create a sense of control: In her quest for revenge, Ellie kills many people who were not involved in Joel’s killing. Additionally, her dreams, journal entries, and decisions exemplify acting out. Ultimately, Ellie works through her trauma by accepting Joel’s passing and sparing Abby’s life since both characters do not find peace through violent acts.

Although one never leaves one's trauma behind, healing and recovery are also major topics of the game. Abby finds healing by protecting others instead of fighting against them, and finds a new purpose through forming new bonds and abandoning revenge. However, Ellie’s journey to healing is depicted more tragically: Her isolation finally leads to mourning, allowing her to grieve Joel and let go of her hate for Abby. This act of mourning and reconnection is essential for both characters. However, recovery is depicted as ongoing and incomplete when Ellie leaves Joel’s guitar behind and walks out of the frame, the symbol for their connection looming over her disappearing figure. In the conclusion, I repeat the stance that the game is framed as a trauma narrative, which challenges the player to empathize with morally complex characters. Through forced perspective shifts, emotional storytelling, and limited agency, The Last of Us Part 2 engages both characters and players in the process of trauma, its aftermath, and the painstaking path toward healing.

[librarycards]

hello! have you ever read judith herman? any opinions?

i read Trauma and Recovery initially for a graduate course on narrative medicine I took as an undergrad, so this was several years ago! from what I remember, I appreciated Herman's approach to trauma as a holistic, compounding experience whose genesis wasn't necessarily specific, isolated events (as it was attributed to when ptsd/shell-shock was the sole purview of ex-soldiers, and feminized trauma was hermeneutically foreclosed in the diagnostic lit). i also appreciated her broad historicization of trauma, its origins as a concept and its development across spacetime.

i think that it is undoubtedly a transformative book for those lacking the language to describe the relationship between "personal" and "political" experiences. this is particularly the case for those who read the book in the early 90s when it was first published, just 15 years after marital rape began to be recognized as rape at all (and in the ongoing wake of major feminist consciousness-raising efforts around the ubiquity of sexual violence).

so, overall, my opinion of herman and her work is positive. i think that, since the book's publication, Mad/critical trauma studies approaches to what is dx'd as ptsd have expanded, and challenged the very diagnostic frameworks into which (c)ptsd (and associated 'personality disorders', esp. BPD) fits. at the same time, i recognize herman as a life-changing and life-saving interlocutor of trauma for those who lack the language for narrative self-determination.

[narrativetherapy-blog]

“Mythologization works by reducing a traumatic event to a set of standardized narratives (twice- and thrice-told tales that come to represent “the story” of the trauma) turning it from a frightening and uncontrollable event into a contained and predictable narrative. Medicalization focuses our gaze upon the victims of trauma, positing that they suffer from an “illness” that can be “cured” within existing or slightly modified structures of institutionalized medicine and psychiatry. Disappearance—a refusal to admit to the existence of a particular kind of trauma—is usually accomplished by undermining the credibility of the victim.”

— Kali Tal, Worlds of Hurt: Reading the Literature of Trauma

Mythologization, medicalization, and disappearance all work to direct attention away from the culture of violence, and the conflation of violence with socioeconomic power, that must be understood, addressed, and replaced if we are ever to have less trauma, and less of the effects of trauma, in our world.