Trauma

The prevalence and impact of trauma has been mischaracterized and misinterpreted throughout time, and this has undoubtedly affected the health and treatment of countless people throughout history. Considering this, some authors impacted by firsthand or cultural traumas before and/or during World War II and the Cold War era, went on to write works of science fiction that handled heavy and taboo characterizations of traumatic stress. Looking back at these short stories and novels with a modern clinical perspective of the impacts of trauma, one can see how these characterizations turned out to be strikingly accurate, or, at the very least, closer to truth than perspectives and hypotheses of their era.
Two short stories, “Thunder and Roses” by Theodore Sturgeon and “Scanners Live in Vain” by Cordwainer Smith, and two novels, The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, will be examined.

The purpose of this study was to develop and explore the factor structure of a retrospective assessment instrument designed to identify the presence of early covert traumas in an individual’s history. Covert traumas are those which are psychosocial, and often interpersonal, in nature (Altobelli, 2017). While a deficiency in the available body of research addressing such traumas currently exists, limited research suggests that experiences of such phenomena may affect individual potential across various domains of development, functioning, health, and well-being (van der Kolk, 2014). In addition, the residual effects of such traumas may exacerbate adverse adult outcomes, such as experiences of chronic pain, proclivities towards maladaptive forms of coping, and hindrances to academic and occupational performance and achievement (Felitti et al., 1998). Furthermore, some theorists propose that the impact of such traumas, especially when compounded, may cause more emotional harm than exposure to a single overtly traumatic event (Staggs, 2014).