ABSTRACT
Bessel van der Kolk defines trauma as "an inescapably stressful event that overwhelms [the individual's] existing coping mechanism"; Sigmund Freud described trauma as the ego being overwhelmed and helpless. A number of theorists have suggested that the term trauma has become overused so that an individual might refer to anything that they find difficult to deal with as "traumatic". Charcot's work on hysteria was taken up and much developed by his pupil, Pierre Janet, who laid down the foundation stones of trauma theory. Freud had attended some of Charcot's lectures and had been much impressed by them and by the link between hysteria and trauma. Between 1895 and 1897, following his patients' accounts of early sexual experiences, Freud maintained that in neuroses, and in hysteria in particular, the original trauma is always linked to real sexual encounters with an adult close to the patient.
