Can Traumatic Events Traumatize People? Trauma, Madness and ‘Psychosis’

Abstract

Over a decade ago I wrote a critical review of the literature about family influences on ‘schizophrenia’ under the title ‘Do Families Cause “Schizophrenia”? Revisiting a Taboo Subject’ (Johnstone, 1999). The controversy has recently resurfaced in a slightly different form, in relation to the debate about the role of trauma and abuse in the development of ‘psychosis’.