The Trouble with Trauma is the story of how the idea of
psychological trauma appeals to the human mind.
Trauma impacts many people psychologically, but the evidence on the
long-term physical effect is incomplete. Theories that psychological
trauma can permanently damage your brain, cause physical disease, and
change your essential character have become staples of human thought
worldwide.
Dr. Scheeringa explains how those theories are widely believed whilst
not being true, and at the heart of the story is an explanation of how
humans choose to ignore scientific evidence and practice self-deception
based on heuristics for survival. Heuristics is a rapid and efficient
method to make judgments about threatening situations, which may be
especially relevant during an epidemic and the spread of misinformation.
But The Trouble with Trauma is more than a critique of social policy.
This is a book for anyone who wants a better understanding on how
groupthink and herd mentality works and improves our ability to
understand scientific fact. Dr. Scheeringa sheds light on why we choose
to ignore scientific evidence while engaging the reader in a lively
conversation on how we come to believe.
