Traumatology emerged within medicine more than 70 years ago. The original field of traumatology was the study of wounds and injuries caused by accidents or violence to a person, and the surgical therapy and repair of the damage. The root of traumatology is trauma (Greek for “wound”). However, the field of traumatology has come a long way from its origin as a subset of surgery. Modern traumatology, facilitated by Charles R. Figley's 1978 book Stress Disorders Among Vietnam Veterans and by the emergence of Traumatology, the international journal founded in 1995, is sometimes called psychotraumatology. This branch of traumatology concerns the study of the psychosocial and psychophysiological causes and consequences of trauma experiences and memories, and the strategies for measuring and managing the consequences.

The scope ...