“Mythologization works by reducing a traumatic event to a set of standardized narratives (twice- and thrice-told tales that come to represent “the story” of the trauma) turning it from a frightening and uncontrollable event into a contained and predictable narrative. Medicalization focuses our gaze upon the victims of trauma, positing that they suffer from an “illness” that can be “cured” within existing or slightly modified structures of institutionalized medicine and psychiatry. Disappearance—a refusal to admit to the existence of a particular kind of trauma—is usually accomplished by undermining the credibility of the victim.”
— Kali Tal, Worlds of Hurt: Reading the Literature of Trauma
Mythologization, medicalization, and disappearance all work to direct attention away from the culture of violence, and the conflation of violence with socioeconomic power, that must be understood, addressed, and replaced if we are ever to have less trauma, and less of the effects of trauma, in our world.
