DOHA: The capacity of the arts to enhance the understanding of ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (PTSD) was discussed in the latest lecture of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds.
Dr Rodney Sharkey, Associate Professor of English, WCM-Q, said through the arts and storytelling, in the context of the “talking cure” of classical 19th century psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud, people affected by PTSD might be able to start to come to terms with their experiences and begin to heal.
“The idea of healing through stories in the context of highly advanced neurobiological studies of the very complex structures of the brain might seem somewhat unlikely,” said Dr Sharkey, “but in fact, story is absolutely central to who we are and how we engage with our environment and society. I propose that we can privilege story by resurrecting institutional interest in psychoanalysis and by recognising the recurrence of trauma as a socio-political and environmental event,” he told physicians, researchers, students and healthcare professionals at WCM-Q.
Although PTSD can affect anyone who experiences a traumatic event or long-term abuse, the condition is most frequently associated with soldiers.
Dr Sharkey said in the US in 2012, 6,500 former military personnel took their lives. In that year, 177 active-duty soldiers committed suicide — one more than the 176 US soldiers killed in combat in the same period.
Dr Sharkey explained that soldiers often experience profound alienation and isolation when they return to civilian life as they struggle to relate to people who have not seen war and are unable to reconcile the ‘normality’ of peacetime with the violence they have witnessed and participated in.
They often feel rejected by society and confused by the conflicting standards of morality that exist between the ‘normal’ world and the battlefield. Researchers have attempted to discover specific genetic traits that make some people more susceptible to PTSD and other anxiety disorders, and have conceptualised a drug that could ‘turn off’ parts of the brain to effectively eradicate fear.
Some recent research, however, has acknowledged the limitations of a purely neurobiological approach to understanding PTSD, according to Dr Sharkey. “With PTSD, I think the key word is ‘trauma’. Rather than looking to find predispositions so that trauma can be prevented, we should be directing research towards addressing the effects of trauma and ways of healing it as a collective event,” he said.
The Peninsula
