ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the two studies examining relations between narrative coherence and self-concept, one focusing on the individual trauma of childhood sexual abuse and the second focusing on the collective trauma of 9/11. It is not to argue that the trauma itself ever becomes a positive experience, but rather that one is able to use this devastation to reconsider who one is and how one should live in the world, to reconcile trauma with one's evolving sense of self and the world. The relations between memory and trauma are complex and paradoxical. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms include nightmares, feelings of re-living or re-experiencing the trauma, intrusive thoughts, an inability to focus or concentrate, and bodily symptoms including insomnia, sweats, and irritability, among others. The chapter discusses how trauma changes the sense of self and the place in the world, and the ways in which the struggle to reconcile trauma with a coherent sense of self and meaning in the world.
