Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the few DSM categories that was created and became widely accepted as a result of people other than psychiatrists wanting it. Even progressive practitioners tend to assume that it is essentially well constructed and benign. This article shows otherwise. The article fundamentally problematizes PTSD. It demonstrates that the category PTSD is confused, reductionist, contradictory, and arbitrary and that it pathologizes purposeful and valuable coping strategies commonly used by people who are traumatized. It demonstrates, in addition, that the category does not even serve the purpose for which progressive therapists have engaged with the diagnosis and that it cannot simply be “corrected.”
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Author Biography
Emma Jane Tseris, BA, BSW (Hons), is a postgraduate research student in social work at the University of Sydney, Education Building A35, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia; e-mail: emma.
