Vyshka G, Elezi F, Mana T. Importance of methodological considerations in documenting psychological trauma. World J Methodol 2023; 13(4): 166-169 [PMID: 37771868 DOI: 10.5662/wjm.v13.i4.166]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Gentian Vyshka, MD, Professor, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Rr. Dibres 371, Tirana 1005, Albania. gvyshka@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Neurosciences
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Methodol. Sep 20, 2023; 13(4): 166-169 Published online Sep 20, 2023. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v13.i4.166
Importance of methodological considerations in documenting psychological trauma
Gentian Vyshka, Fatime Elezi, Tedi Mana
Gentian Vyshka, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana 1005, Albania
Fatime Elezi, Tedi Mana, Service of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa”, Tirana 1005, Albania
Author contributions: Vyshka G and Mana T manuscript drafting and literature review; Elezi F manuscript mentoring and approval of revised version; Vyshka G wrote the paper and revised it.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gentian Vyshka, MD, Professor, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Rr. Dibres 371, Tirana 1005, Albania. gvyshka@gmail.com
Received: April 18, 2023 Peer-review started: April 18, 2023 First decision: June 1, 2023 Revised: June 10, 2023 Accepted: June 27, 2023 Article in press: June 27, 2023 Published online: September 20, 2023 Processing time: 154 Days and 14.5 Hours
Abstract
The documentation of psychological trauma is obviously a challenge to clinicians while they are diving deep into remote events related to their clients or patients. The potential role of psychological trauma in the early developmental stages, and even the existence of adverse childhood experiences, is important to prove, yet it is difficult to do so. A diverse range of methods have been applied, all of which presumably benchmark a big therapeutic step; however, these enthusiastic methods frequently do not last for long. While hypnosis supporters, Freudian and Neo-Freudian disciples can be acute enough to enhance and uncover suppressed memories, modern psychiatry relies mostly on diversely structured interviews. Functional magnetic resonance and its related subtleties might help, but the questions that remain unanswered are numerous and confusing. Connecting early experiences with long-term memory while identifying psychological trauma its importance for the individual’s growth trajectory; thus, it remains an intriguing issue.
Core Tip: The documentation of psychological trauma is a delicate issue with important clinical, ethical and legal implications. Interviews, self-reporting, hypnosis and recent sophisticated imaging techniques have been proposed and tried. While each method has intrinsic advantages and drawbacks, it is important for scholars to specify their chosen approach while denoting the value and limitations of the findings.