The University of Canterbury (UC) has launched a new research program aimed at examining how trauma is understood by the public and medical community, and what sort of treatment is made available after traumatic events.

Two University of Canterbury researchers Mason Head and his media and communication supervisor Dr Sue Tait are researching PTSD which became a psychiatric diagnosis following the Vietnam War.

"In order to understand trauma and its treatment following the Christchurch earthquakes and the impact of trauma on our own servicemen and women, journalists and first responders we need to understand how agendas are set internationally,’’ Dr Tait said.

"Our research follows two threads and their connections. The first is the problems with the way PTSD is defined, treated and managed within psychiatry. The issues we are exploring here include the way the diagnostic criteria contribute to stigma, which can inform a reluctance to seek help. This stems from the contradiction that experiences that are acknowledged to be traumatic -unmanageable, incomprehensible, psychic wounds – are, at the same time, considered disordered if they depart from expectable and culturally sanctioned responses.”

"The second thread is the way the public understands what trauma and PTSD are through media representations. While we locate representations of PTSD within the context of broader representations of trauma, our focus is the representation of traumatic stress in the context of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.