International Trauma Scripts Consortium

The international consortium began collaborating in 2023. It intensively investigates a bottom-up approach to the assessment of cultural expressions of suffering  after traumatic experiences. We build on the idea that cultural models of normalcy and deviancy affect the presentation of posttraumatic symptoms. The concept of cultural scripts of trauma complements pan-cultural (‘etic‘) diagnoses, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD, as well as the cultural syndromes concept. It captures culture-specific expressions of posttraumatic sequelae, e.g., cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, body-related changes, their temporal associations, and its co-determination by cultural values.

More information will be available here in the following time.

Chentsova-Dutton, Y., & Maercker, A. (2019). Cultural scripts of traumatic stress: Outline, illustrations, and research opportunities. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2528, doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02528

In German / auf Deutsch:
Maercker, A., Bachem, R., Mutuyimana, C., & Eberle, D. (2024). Auf dem Weg zu kulturellen Skripten von Traumafolgen [Towards cultural scripts of trauma sequelae].PPmP-Psychotherapie· Psychosomatik· Medizinische Psychologie. eFirst. DOI: 10.1055/a-2276-4992

Eberle, D. J., Maercker, A., Levin, Y., Mutuyimana, C., Wen, J., Makhashvili, N., Javakhisvili, D., Papava, A., Yu, X., Qian, W., Wang, J., Asatsa, S. & Bachem, R. (2024). Cultural psychological factors in posttraumatic symptom development and expression: a study protocol. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1), 2364998.