2010 Theses Bachelor's

The Applicability of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to Women of Non-Western Cultures

Dugan, Jorie

This report investigates Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) stemming from post-conflict and refugee situations in women of non-Western cultures. More specifically, it examines PTSD as a construction of the West, modeling a white, male-dominated, independent-culture, which leads to many limitations when the same diagnostic and therapeutic mechanisms are applied to cultures with different ideologies, values, and social constructions.

This paper argues that not only is PTSD culturally insensitive, thus requiring adaptation to local context when post-traumatic symptoms are being examined and/or treated, but PTSD is also not gender sensitive. Trauma is presented and experienced differently in women than in men across cultures, and therefore PTSD – the discourse, conceptions, and practical applications of diagnosis and treatment – must expand to support the unique and multifaceted psycho-traumatic experiences of women.