Citation

van der Hart O, Brown P, Graafland M. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Psychiatry 1999; 33(1): 37-46.

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. onnovdh@wxs.nl

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10197884

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study relates trauma-induced dissociative amnesia reported in World War I (WW I) studies of war trauma to contemporary findings of dissociative amnesia in victims of childhood sexual abuse. METHOD: Key diagnostic studies of post-traumatic amnesia in WW I combatants are surveyed. These cover phenomenology and the psychological dynamics of dissociation vis-à-vis repression. RESULTS: Descriptive evidence is cited for war trauma-induced dissociative amnesia. CONCLUSION: Posttraumatic amnesia extends beyond the experience of sexual and combat trauma and is a protean symptom, which reflects responses to the gamut of traumatic events.

Language: en