Understanding the Core of Psychological Trauma

Management, 2019

Traumatology as scientific discipline has its roots in the early twentieth century. The rise of Psychoanalysis and the atrocities of two world wars, which victimized millions of soldiers and civilians worldwide, represent the foundation of Traumatology. Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (ptsd) were observed and studied systematically ever since. After introductory differentiations regarding the terminology of ptsd and resilience, this paper offers insight into organizational trauma. Both, the organizational context of trauma and the processes of transmitting traumata within organizations are described and analysed. This paper refers to a single case study, carried out in Austria during 2017/2018, investigating a collapsing mid-sized international bank and the traumatic impacts across its organizational structures. Narrative methods were used according to the study's research design, in order to explore how the traumatized employees 'storied' their experiences. Narrative thematic segments reveal how persons endure, cope with and eventually get over severe long-term traumatic experiences.

The phenomenon of organizational trauma (OT) is mentioned by an increasing number of researchers. However, there is a large heterogeneity of definitions and practices related to this notion. In view of developing a more consensual understanding of OT, this paper reviews the existing literature with regard to the subject focusing on three key elements: its definition, typology and the processes involved. For each element, the existing models are reviewed and an integrated conceptualization is introduced, providing a basis for further empirical research and enabling comparisons between existing studies. As such, the paper contributes to the consensus that is necessary to advance the research with regard to this subject.

2020

Over recent decades, there have been many reported cases of crisis, involving violent crimes, natural disasters, or terrorism. Such extreme events expose salient and self-evident human emotions and make them easier to investigate (Stierand, 2016, Dorfler and Stierand, 2019, Dorfler and Stierand, 2009) for it is people’s lifeworld (Lebenswelt) that ties their consciousness to the objects of experience (Moran, 2000, Ihde, 1986, Husserl, 1970). Hallgren et al. (2018) have conducted a large-scale review of 138 articles in Management and Organization Studies (MOS) on extreme contexts spanning the period from 1980 to 2015. They found that when an organization is undergoing an extreme event, this either happens in an emergency context, if the event results from core activities gone wrong, like BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or in a disrupted context if the event has nothing to do with the core business of the organization, for example, the shooting in the offices of the French satirical...

This article attempts to review the individual and organizational consequences of trauma to provide a better understanding of the definitions of trauma, post-traumatic stress disorders, organizational trauma, and ways to decrease trauma. The review indicates that workplace trauma might occur and is harmful; however, it is generally not understood properly and therefore, not caught attention as a crucial issue. The author provides explanations and suggestions about individual and organizational trauma and their effects on workplace that might contribute to human resource practitioners in a positive way.

Impact of Organizational Trauma on Workplace Behavior and Performance; DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2021-4, 2017

Organizational trauma is a contemporary construct that highlights long-lasting negative psychological consequences of various internal and external events that overwhelm the capacity of people in organizational settings. This chapter proposes that a typology of “potentially traumatic events” (PTEs) and the taxonomy of these events’ attributes can be developed by conducting a comprehensive literature review. The search of databases for the period of 1995-2016 revealed 81 articles on which inductive qualitative content analysis was conducted. Analysis brought three PTEs: “events resulting from organizational processes”; “adverse experiences in trauma-prone occupations/sectors”, and “catastrophic events caused by economic/ social/ environmental conditions”. These events’ attributes appeared distinctive under three themes: “features of traumatic events”;“human behaviours”; “internal and external organizational environment”. As the final step, the proposed taxonomy was applied to real traumatic business cases happened in 2015 and early 2016 so that the taxonomic model was tested.

Background: Psychologically traumatic workplace events (known as critical incidents) occur within various work environments, with workgroups in certain industries vulnerable to multiple incidents. With the increasing prevalence of incidents in the United States, incident response is a growing practice area within occupational medicine, industrial psychology, occupational social work and other occupational health professions. Objective: This research analyzed a measure of incident severity based on level of disruption to the workplace and explored whether incident severity varied among different industry settings or between workgroups experiencing multiple versus single traumatic incidents. Methods: This observational, exploratory study employed the methodology of administrative data mining to examine practice data from a workplace trauma response unit in the United States. Bivariate analyses were conducted to test for whether scores from an instrument measuring incident severity level varied among industry settings or between workgroups impacted by multiple vs. isolated events. Results: Incident severity level differed among various industry settings. Banks, retail stores and fast food restaurants accounted for the most severe incidents, while industrial and manufacturing sites reported less severe incidents. Workgroups experiencing multiple incidents reported more severe incidents than workgroups experiencing a single incident. Conclusion: Occupational health practitioners should be alert to industry differences in several areas: pre-incident resiliency training, the content of business recovery plans, assessing worker characteristics, strategies to assist continuous operations and assisting workgroups impacted by multiple or severe incidents.

Gestalt Theory, 2016

Summary Traumatic stress and its impacts present themselves as high vulnerability, insecurity and distrust, and the treatment of those who have undergone life-threatening terrors must go beyond looking at symptoms. It is about bringing back a sense of inner strength, self-efficacyand trust. In finding a way back to those capacities and virtues, the individual is highly dependent on his or her environment and interpersonal relationships. Healing trauma that took place because of human atrocities cannot happen without the interest, empathy, compassion and comfort of others. This article reviews recent developments in the treatment of trauma that focus on the somatic experiencing of trauma-related sensation and affects and refers to some concepts of Gestalt theory. It further presents some drawings and results from working with traumatized clients, and last but not least it reflects on the role of society and its responsibility in the healing process. Zusammenfassung Traumatischer Stress und seine Auswirkungen zeigen sich als hohe Vulnerabilität, Unsicherheit und Misstrauen. Die Gesundung derer, die lebensbedrohendem Terror ausgesetzt waren, muss über die bloße Behandlung von Symptomen hinausgehen. Es geht darum, innere Stärke, Selbstwirksamkeit und Vertrauen zurückzuerlangen. Ein traumatisierter Mensch, der zu diesen Fähigkeiten und Tugenden wieder Zugang finden will, ist in hohem Maße abhängig von seinem Umfeld und seinen zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen. Trauma, das durch menschliche Greueltaten entstand, kann nicht ohne das Interesse, die Einfühlung, das Mitgefühl und den Trost anderer heilen. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen kurzen Überblick zu neueren Entwicklungen in der Behandlung von Trauma, die auf das somatische Erleben von traumabezogenen Empfindungen und Affekten fokussieren und stellt Bezüge zu einigen Konzepten der Gestalttheorie her. Im Weiteren werden Zeichnungen und Ergebnisse aus der therapeutischen Arbeit mit Klientinnen und Klienten präsentiert und über die Rolle der Gesellschaft und deren Verantwortung in Heilungsprozessen reflektiert.

European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2013

This article outlines a personal reflection of experiences within the field of traumatic stress, especially in relation to specific events, which affected the author's professional life. Conclusions for further challenges for European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) are delineated. ESTSS's role in the global network of traumatic stress societies is discussed. This is a personal view of Brigitte Lueger-Schuster, president of ESTSS on behalf of the 20th birthday of ESTSS.