The Ethics of Trauma Memory+Access Paper

Service Description

The CTI will host Professor Tom Stoneham and Dr Robert A Davies for a discussion of their (2025) paper on The Ethics of Trauma Memory. Please read their paper before joining our event : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10516-024-09734-1#:~:text=On%20the%20one%20hand%2C%20evidence,and%20are%20thereby%20potentially%20unethical. The paper identifies what makes some interactions with victims unethical (discussing the distinctive nature of trauma memory and the risks of re-traumatisation). They argue that this may have surprising implications for well-meaning interactions with those victims (both clinical and non-clinical). Stoneham and Davies will give a short talk, outline the next steps in their research, and will participate in a Q&A/discussion session. Those interested in participating are encouraged to read the paper in advance of the event. The paper is free to download from Global Philosophy. Abstract In well-documented cases, it is plausibly unethical to ask trauma sufferers for details relating to their trauma. We propose that the reasons are twofold: First, the details requested are not required by those asking for them; second, the request comes with potential for significant harm for the victim arising from the exchange. Requests meeting these conditions are widespread, including in predominant forms of psychotherapy, so accepting these conditions has surprising and challenging consequences for a wide range of interactions with the victims of trauma, including well-meaning ones. Given these surprising and challenging consequences, we explore what, if anything, could offset the two conditions, focusing primarily on therapeutic interactions, which are sometimes thought to have a distinctive or sui generis character. We conclude that none of the options we consider wholly off-set the two conditions, and that they are only partly off-set by insufficient research into alternatives. We outline implications for the status of treatments which require the recollection of trauma as the default kind of intervention, and for interactions with victims of trauma more broadly. Link to the paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10516-024-09734-1#:~:text=On%20the%20one%20hand%2C%20evidence,and%20are%20thereby%20potentially%20unethical.