ABSTRACT
Historically, observations on stress and trauma developed in relative isolation in different cultures. The traumatic situations examined are wars, the Holocaust, natural disasters, civilian accidents, personal violence and sexual abuse, sexual assault of children and incest, psychosomatic medicine, and bereavement and dying. The importance of the First World War was the final wide recognition of the so-called traumatic neuroses of war. The importance of Kardiner’s work lay in that for the first time there was a combination of rich biological, psychological, and social descriptions of combat sequelae, with dynamic connections between symptoms and preceding traumas. The symptoms themselves varied greatly, but they included reliving traumas as if they were happening currently. The disaster literature has highlighted proportionate sequelae to intensity of stressors, observed evolution of sequelae, the concept of phases of traumatic situations, and helper traumatic stress.
