Identifying Trauma and PTSD in Clients with Psychiatric Disorders

There are several different assessments that can be used for victims of trauma to determine the level of stress and if a victim is suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The best results will occur if the clinical work is directed at the symptoms expressed by the resulting trauma. When assessing the treatment plan, “the psychic injury caused by the event and its impact on the survivor’s normal life patterns and his or her worldview must be accounted for” (Everstine & Everstine, 2006, p.161). A person

Lu, W., Yanos, P. T., Silverstein, S. M., Mueser, K. T., Rosenberg, S. D., Gottlieb, J. D., Duva, S. M., Kularatne, T., Dove-Williams, S., Paterno, D., Hawthorne, D., and Giacobbe, G. (2013). Public Mental Health Clients with Severe Mental Illness and Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Trauma Exposure and Correlates of Symptom Severity. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26,

This paper explores post-traumatic stress and how it is seen as a disorder. Post-traumatic stress can manifest into post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Sareen (2014), Post-traumatic stress disorder is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5 as having 4 core features that are as follows. First, the person must witness or experience a stressful event. Secondly, the person or persons would re-experience symptoms of the event that include nightmares and/or flashbacks. The person or persons would also have hyper arousal symptoms, such as concentrations problems, irritability, and sleep disturbance. The final core feature dictates

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a relatively new diagnosis that was associated with survivors of war when it was first introduced. Its diagnosis was met largely with skepticism and dismissal by the public of the validity of the illness. PTSD was only widely accepted when it was included as a diagnosis in 1980 in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) of the American Psychiatric Association. PTSD is a complex mental disorder that develops in response to exposure to a severe traumatic event that stems a cluster of symptoms. Being afflicted with the disorder is debilitating, disrupting an individual’s ability to function and perform the most basic tasks.

The term “Psychological trauma” refers to damage wrought from a traumatic event, which that damages one’s ability to cope with stressors. “Trauma” is commonly defined as an exposure to a situation in which a person is confronted with an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to self or others’ physical well-being (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Specific types of client trauma frequently encountered by which therapists and other mental health workers frequently encounter in a clinical setting include sexual abuse, physical , or sexual assault, natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis, domestic violence, and school or/and work related violence (James & Gilliland, 2001). Traumatic

This paper will define The Effects of Trauma and Crisis on Clients and Mental Health Counselors and give a brief overview on how these Natural and man-made disasters, crises, and other trauma-causing events have become a focus of the clinical mental health counseling profession. Due to the extreme trauma that children, adolescents and adult experience after a traumatic event it, is noted that most individuals that are exposed to traumatic experience usually develop major depression, generalized anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) later in

I believe many of the serious mental illnesses (SMIs) that people develop over their lifetime are a result of some sort of trauma that happened either as children or young adults. There are even consumers who come through our agency looking for services, who have been licensed therapists, doctors, or lawyers, but have hit a mental health breaking point, because of the vicarious trauma they have developed over their career.

“American Psychiatric Association defines trauma as an event that represents a threat to life or personal integrity. Trauma can also be experienced when children are faced with a caregiver who acts erratically, emotional and /or physical neglect, and exploitation” (Maltby, L., & Hall, T. 2012. p. 304). Trauma comes in many different forms including: war, rape, kidnapping, abuse, sudden injury, and

Mental disorders have been a problem around the world for many centuries. There are many different types of mental disorders as well as degree level that people can suffer from. Many people go through life never being diagnosed or treated for their mental disorder. Some people are diagnosed with multiple disorders at one time. One mental illness that has been around since the 1600’s, that just recently made the American Psychology mental health journal is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder better known as PTSD. This disorder is commonly found in Veterans that have fought in the war, but also can consist of individuals that suffered

Trauma, by definition is unbearable an intolerable. Trauma leaves traces on our minds and emotions, on our capacity for joy and intimacy, and even on our biology and immune systems (Kolk, 2014). While traumatic events are experienced as disastrous and overwhelming, there are opportunities for transformation, healing, and clarity of mind. The paper will focus on the treatment of Individuals suffering with mental illness due to post trauma using trauma-focused cognitive behavioral

The patients that participated in this study were assessed for various forms of traumatic adversity by using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Other materials and methods were used including the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS) and the Calgary Depression Scale

Over the past decade, investigators worldwide have been utilizing the “clinical high risk (CHR)” paradigm to identify adolescents and young adults at increased imminent risk for developing psychosis. Increased recognition of the CHR and early psychosis period has further led to the consideration of the attenuated psychosis syndrome specification under the Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder section in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5th edition (DSM-5). Researchers have previously defined childhood trauma as any emotional neglect, or psychological, physical, emotional or sexual abuse occurring before the age of 17 years old (Bernstein et al., 2003; Kraan et al., 2015). While a wealth of data has demonstrated indirect associations between childhood trauma (CT) and psychosis in adulthood (cite reviews), prospective longitudinal studies of individuals with the CHR syndrome provide a unique opportunity to examine potential risk factors, resilience factors and underlying mechanisms that may link psychosis and CT. This population provides a critical window into the development of psychosis prior to the concomitant effects of chronic exposure to antipsychotic medications, substance use, isolation and social impoverishment that can accompany psychotic disorders, as well as the trauma often experienced from psychotic episodes themselves, trauma related to involuntary hospitalizations, and higher rates of victimization and

2. Allen, J. G. (2001). Traumatic relationships and serious mental disorders. New York : Wiley.

In the article “When Diagnostic Labels Mask Trauma, the authors provide an effective and appropriate abstract summary that clearly defines the purpose of the study to be focused on the relationship between childhood trauma resulting in a wide range of mental health disorder diagnostics. The abstract also gives additional support to the hypothesis question in explaining that the reason for this study is to provide knowledge that if such failure occurs in recognizing the relationship between the two variables, diagnosis and treatment in children will merely manage symptoms instead of addressing the trauma. While the abstract does not mention many highlights about the research methodology used in the study, it does indicate the list of mental

In order to better understand how trauma is a risk factor for psychosis, the different trauma domains must be investigated.