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Traumatic Events and Tonic Immobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Arturo Bados ,
Lidia Toribio  and
Eugeni García-Grau
Arturo Bados*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Barcelona (Spain)
Lidia Toribio
Affiliation:
Consorci Sanitari de l'Anoia (Spain)
Eugeni García-Grau
Affiliation:
Universidad de Barcelona (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Arturo Bados, Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluació n y Tratamiento Psicoló gico, Facultad de Psicologí a, Universidad de Barcelona, (Spain). Phone: 34-933125106. FAX: 34-934021362. E-mail: abados@ub.edu
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Abstract

Tonic immobility is a basic defense strategy which has not been studied in depth in humans. Data suggest that it may be a relatively frequent phenomenon in victims of rape and sexual abuse, but its occurrence has not been systematically explored in other types of trauma. We carried out a retrospective study in a sample of 100 university students to establish whether tonic immobility varies depending on the nature of the worst trauma experienced, defined subjectively by each participant. Immobility was assessed using the Tonic Immobility Scale and traumas were assessed using the modified Traumatic Events Questionnaire. Seventy percent of the sample had experienced trauma of some kind. There were no significant differences in tonic immobility between different types of trauma (e.g., physical abuse, assault or aggression, serious accident), except that the mean tonic immobility score was significantly higher in the group with trauma due to physical/psychological or sexual abuse than in the group with trauma due to receiving news of the mutilation, serious injury, or violent or sudden death of a loved one. We conclude tentatively that tonic immobility may be typical not only of sexual traumas, but of other kinds of directly experienced traumas as well.

La inmovilidad tónica es una estrategia defensiva básica que ha sido muy poco estudiada en seres humanos. Hay datos de que puede ser un fenómeno relativamente frecuente en víctimas de violación y abuso sexual, pero su ocurrencia no ha sido investigada de forma sistemática en otro tipo de traumas. Así pues, estudiamos retrospectivamente en una muestra de 100 estudiantes universitarios si la inmovilidad tónica varía en función del peor trauma experimentado, definido este según la valoración subjetiva de cada participante. La inmovilidad fue evaluada mediante la Escala de Inmovilidad Tónica y los traumas mediante el Cuestionario de Eventos Traumáticos modificado. Un 70% de la muestra había experimentado algún trauma. No hubo diferencias significativas en inmovilidad tónica entre diferentes tipos de traumas (p.ej., maltrato, atraco o agresión, accidente grave), excepto que la media de inmovilidad tónica fue significativamente mayor en el grupo con trauma de maltrato físico/psicológico o abuso sexual que en el grupo con trauma subsecuente a noticias de mutilación, heridas graves o muerte violenta o inesperada de alguien cercano. Así pues, puede concluirse tentativamente que la inmovilidad tónica puede ser típica no sólo de traumas sexuales, sino también de otro tipo de traumas directamente experimentados..

Keywords

tonic immobilitytraumaTonic Immobility ScaleTraumatic Events Questionnairedefensive strategiesInmovilidad tónicatraumaEscala de Inmovilidad TónicaCuestionario de Eventos Traumáticosestrategias defensivas.
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , November 2008 , pp. 516 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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