Overview

This book develops a critical psychological account of trauma as an institutional phenomenon, which is currently missing in psychological discourse. While a great deal of attention has been paid to understanding trauma in individualized terms, comparatively little attention has been paid to understanding trauma as a feature of institutions. Based on the observation that experiences of trauma are deeply lodged in institutional conditions, this book asks what comes into view when psychological trauma is approached as an institutional phenomenon. Recognizing that the personal is political, this book proposes an expanded institutional analytic of trauma and lays critical foundations for responses that treat institutions as sites of trauma and its management. Drawing on a range of disciplines including critical psychology, feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and critical trauma studies, this expanded institutional analytic advocates for institutional transformation within and beyond the confines of dominant psychological knowledge(s) and practice. Institutional Trauma is fascinating reading for academics, students, practitioners, and anybody interested in understanding institutional power, violence, and harm.

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9780367487256

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Lucy Thompson is a critical feminist psychologist who studies institutional power relations and their impacts from the perspective that the personal is political. From this perspective, she specializes in feminist analyses of institutions, violence, and psychological distress. Her research has made methodological, empirical, and conceptual contributions in these areas. Specifically, she has published an analytical framework, Feminist Relational Discourse Analysis, which allows critical examinations of the personal-political dimensions of experience. She has also studied institutional phenomena such as imposter syndrome and workplace violence from this perspective. Her conceptual work in the domain of institutional trauma reflects her commitment to understanding experiences of psychological distress as institutionally bound.

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