Abstract
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)
The post-traumatic stress syndrome has traditionally been defined and treated as pathology residing within the individual. The systemic interactional approach which is
favoured in this study, however, holds that all subsystems of the larger system are interconnected and that change within the individual subsystem therefore constitutes change in other subsystems. The question that is posed in this thesis, is whether the theoretical assumptions of the systemic approach may be applied to create a better, fuller understanding of the post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Theoretical discussion of both a traditional and a systemic approach to the post-traumatic stress phenomenon, as well as their practical application by means of a case study, indicates that the traditional perspective on the posttraumatic stress syndrome is valuable in terms of diagnosis of the disorder and identification of possible causitive stressful life events. It is, however, very limiting in its specificity and does not allow for a full understanding of the diversity of behaviours presented by a system that has been traumatized, directly or indirectly. In this respect, the systemic interactional approach allows the therapist a wider perspective in which individual behaviour may be
systemically contectualized, rendering the behaviour interactionally meaningful.
Although the system typically presents with one member who apparently suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, this study indicates that the whole fa~ily system may in fact come to crisis if the traumatic event cannot be accommodated within the existing interactional patterns. Under such conditions it may be functional to the family system to keep one subsystem overtly symptomatic in order-to focus its attention away from its own pain, thereby trapping theindividual in his symptomatic behaviour.
The study thus aims to indicate the value that a systemic interactional approach may have in dealing with the effects of trauma on both the individual and the larger system.