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Psychopathological View of Posttraumatic Stress Reactions is in the Eye of the Beholder. A Commentary on Schok et al.
Author(s) -
BRAMSEN INGE
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.00906.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychopathology , medicalization , perspective (graphical) , posttraumatic stress , argument (complex analysis) , prejudice (legal term) , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , artificial intelligence , computer science
Schok et al. (2011) concluded that military veterans with “suspicious minds” are at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder. The authors recommended that negative appraisals of peacekeeping missions are prevented or changed to positive appraisals. In developing their argument, they misrepresented previous Dutch research as adopting a “psychopathological perspective.” This commentary criticizes the medicalization of posttraumatic stress responses that tends to ignore contextual factors and moral issues at stake. Also, the implicit assumptions of a “positive psychology” of posttraumatic stress in military veterans are discussed. Results on the process of attributing meaning are presented and related to the differences in theoretical perspective. A contextualized psychology that appreciates human diversity without prejudice and that stimulates moral and cultural sensitivity is advocated.