ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a critical analysis of trauma-informed ideas within mental health settings and their implications for women. In contrast to the oft-made claim that the trauma paradigm in mental health offers a straightforward pathway to the empowerment of mental health service users through its recognition of mental health service users’ social contexts, this chapter argues that there are multiple meanings and implications of the trauma paradigm. While trauma-informed practices can support emancipatory work with women, the trauma concept can also be taken up in ways that are misaligned with social justice principles. In providing this analysis, the chapter examines two growing areas of interest relating to the trauma paradigm: the study of the brain-based effects of violence; and notions of the connection between trauma symptomatology and diminished “mothering capacity”. The emphasis placed within these research agendas on women’s symptomatology after violence suggest an increasingly narrow scope for feminist activism within trauma discourses. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the broad and diverse use of the trauma concept within mental health settings, and the need to critically analyse claims relating to trauma-informed practices, interrogating their varying socio-political underpinnings and implications.