Do South African former detainees experience post-traumatic stress? Circumventing the demand characteristics of psychological assessment.
Most research on persons subjected to physical or psychological torture for political reasons has framed this experience as traumatic, with the sequelae approximating the diagnostic criteria of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, critiques of the trauma model have called attention to the fact that PTSD represents a Western conceptualization of the concerns of persons who have survived stressful experiences. In order to determine whether symptoms of traumatization are salient psychiatric phenomena for South African former detainees, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 respondents who were detained and tortured for political reasons during the apartheid era. Interviews were transcribed and analysed for thematic content using a grounded theory approach. Results showed that although the main concerns expressed were unrelated to traumatization, participants also indicated that they experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress. These data suggest that although too great a focus on traumatic responses may be misplaced, it remains important to consider the possibility that former detainees may exhibit symptoms of this nature. Consequently, critiques of the trauma discourse as a Western phenomenon need to be tempered with evidence of the lived reality of psychological sequelae experienced by this population.
Kagee
Ashraf
A
Stellenbosch University, Department of Psychology, Matieland, South Africa. skagee@sun.ac.za
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D011287:Prejudice; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D013019:South Africa; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology*