Trauma, Culture, and Metaphor : Pathways of Transformation and Integration

In this volume, John Wilson and Jacob Lindy explore the language of both individual and collective trauma in an era dominated by globalization and interconnectedness. As Wilson points out in the first chapter, Western psychiatrists have increasingly found that their ideas of trauma were not always easily translated to other cultures. Through lucid, careful discussion, this important book builds a bridge between the etymology of trauma-related terms commonly used in Western cultures and those of other cultures, such as the Burundi-Rwandan ihahamuka. It also provides the clinician with a framework for working with trauma survivors using a cross-cultural vocabulary-one often based in metaphor-to fully address the experienced trauma and to begin work on reconnection and self-reinvention.