ABSTRACT
Since the Ancient Greeks there has been a common sense understanding that extreme situations and events can lead to extreme human responses: those noted were mostly in the public domain such as war or large scale catastrophes. In the last few decades this has become accepted within the field of mental health, with theories of explanation coming predominantly from psychiatry and psychology based upon either symptom orientation or construct approaches. Latterly, aspects of more commonly lived experience have been identified as potentially traumatic by reason of their oppressive nature, such as racism and violence in the home towards women and children. This chapter considers how all these perspectives contribute, in a contested field, to informing the development of a psychosocial approach to working with survivors of trauma, with particular reference to women survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and refugees.
