Abstract
Since its origin in the surgical medicine of the 17th century, trauma research has had multiple interpretations and has been associated either with visible injuries to organs and tissues, or with the influence of pathogenic psychic agents on memory, consciousness and personality. With the intensification of the role of classification systems since DSM-III, the phenomenon of trauma came to be incorporated into the psychiatric realm through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and destined finally to the constraints of neuroscientific research. Based on a narrative review, this article will address one of the fundamental epistemological premises for this transition, which informs how psychological trauma gained autonomy over anatomical descriptions to be reclassified, around a century later, as an essentially bodily phenomenon and incorporated into the jargon of neurosciences.
Key words:
Psychological trauma; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Neurosciences; Psychopathology