AIM: This paper summarises the psychiatric concepts on trauma in Germany since 1889. METHOD: Literature review and historical analysis. RESULTS: Based on the notion that traumatic experience may lead to mental disorders Oppenheim described the traumatic neurosis in 1889. Subsequently, there was an intensive discussion on different concepts until 1918. Since then, the history of psychiatric concepts of trauma in Germany has been characterised by change, repitition and discontinuity. After 1945, mental disorders following traumatic experience hardly featured in textbooks with the exception of the vaguely defined survivor syndrome. In the last 10 years, the concept of posttraumatic stress disorder as originated in the USA became dominant. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatry in Germany has a long and inconsistent tradition of theories and concepts on trauma. The historical view may enrich the current debate in which the concept of posttraumatic stress disorder has been increasingly criticized.
