Understanding the core of psychological trauma: Trauma in contemporary French theory

Abstract

This chapter examines the usefulness of the conceptualization of trauma in contemporary French theory for a better understanding of the core of organizational trauma. Starting with a short historical background, it investigates the contribution from contemporary French authors to current knowledge on psychotraumatology. The current position of the most influential contemporary French authors is that stress and trauma do not necessarily fit into the same concept. The French clinical description of psychological trauma is based on the concept of frozen fright in the face of death (effroi de la mort) and the repetition syndrome (syndrome de répétition). This may have implications for the analysis of what constitutes an organizational trauma since these clinically relevant but largely unknown theories shed another light on the currently used concepts in mainstream literature. The aim of this chapter is also to bridge conceptual gaps, understanding critical differences in clinical practice and offering a more integrative view of psychological trauma.