Mother's Narratives of Trauma: An exploratory study of how mothers’ narrate the impact of trauma on their families. Dr. Stephen Coulter, Queens University Belfast & Dr. Suzanne Mooney, Queens University Belfast or “…not all psychological injury can be encompassed by a list of symptoms or disorders. Trauma can alter the very meaning we give to our lives, and can produce feelings and experiences that are not easily categorised in diagnostic manuals.” (Briere and Scott, 2006, p. 17) The Thesis The experience of trauma has been over- medicalised and reduced to a relatively narrow set of ‘symptoms’ associated with diagnostic categories such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (van der Kolk, 2001; Papadopoulos, 2007). The Motivating Concern This pathological conceptualisation strongly influences mental health professionals’ interventions with victims/survivors of trauma, which then have the potential to obscure important dimensions of the phenomenological experience of being traumatised that are significant to the victim/survivors and their families (Daley, 2004). Sample The participants were a clinical sample of 10 mothers who attended their initial assessment interview at the Family Trauma Centre. They were interviewed prior to any psycho-education or therapeutic intervention. Types of Trauma Physical Assault Rape Intimidation Sexual Assault Home Attacked Suicide Witness to ShootingOverdose References: Briere, J., & Scott, C. (2006). Principles of Trauma Therapy: A guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. London: Sage. Daley, O. (2004). PTSD and limitations to the current diagnostic system: A clinician’s viewpoint. Traumatic Stress Points, Northbrook, Illinois: ISTSS. Papadopoulos, R. (2007) Refugees, trauma and Adversity-Activated Development. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 9(3): 301–312. van der Kolk, B. A. (2001). The assessment and treatment of complex PTSD. In. R. Yehuda (Ed.), Traumatic Stress. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. Jovchelovitch,S & Bauer, M. (2000). Narrative interviewing [online]. London: LSE Research Online. Available at: Family Trauma Centre The site for the study was a regional trauma treatment centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Methodology The study used ‘Narrative Interviewing’ methodology (Jovchelovitch & Bauer, 2000). During the initial assessment interview, the mother was asked the following standard Single QUestion aimed at Inducing Narrative(s) (SQUIN) question: “Please tell me your story of how [the presenting traumatic event] has affected you and your family?” Analysis Each of the 10 recorded interviews were read independently by two researchers and the essential content of each sentence agreed. These were then independently arranged into sub- themes and themes. The allocation of the various content items to sub-themes and the sub-themes to themes was discussed by the two researchers for each case and definitions for the subthemes and themes created. The results for each case were combined into an over-arching analytical framework, which evolved over the course of the analysis process. The 10 cases were revisited by the researchers independently applying the final analysis framework. The Research Question How do mothers in families in which a member (or members) has experienced a traumatic event narrate the impact of that event on them and their family? Comment on Results 1.The study thesis is supported by the findings, i.e. that a primary focus on PTSD symptoms (only 8.2% of the total relevant narrative content) misses the complexity of the impact of traumatic life events on victims and their families. This is supported by the fact that almost 80% of the ‘Individual Distress’ category reflected common signs of psychological distress rather than trauma specific PTSD symptoms. 2.Reports of ‘Family/Relational Distress’ were represented more strongly than those of ‘Individual Distress’ (42.4% Vs 36.7%). Similarly instances of relational and whole family resilience were cited considerably more often than individual resilience, i.e. 61.5% compared to 38.5% of the resilience supra-theme. 3.These results (if replicated) raise questions regarding the re-balancing of professional discourses on trauma and the nature of service provision for people who have experienced potentially traumatising experiences, in the light of narratives of the ontological experience..