The Mental State Of Trauma Victims

Sitting in the middle of the floor was a sixteen year old girl who had just finished a basketball game. Usually after games, the girl would sit with the rest of the team to watch the boys play. Instead, the girl walked out of the gym with tears freely falling from her cheeks hoping nobody would notice them. After she had sat down, a few members of the team noticed her absence and went looking for her. The reason the girl didn’t want to be seen with tears was because some others on the team had been experiencing the same thing that she was. What this girl was experiencing was emotional trauma created by her male coach. The

Even though our bodies are in one place, our minds may be in another. In Martha Stout’s essay “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday,” the author introduces us to the idea of dissociation. Dissociation is when one’s mind is away from the body and he or she does not know what is going on in the physical world. Those that have traumatic histories may experience this. But because of dissociation, victims may not know if they had a traumatic past because a memory of it never really formed. Stout also finds that individuals may use dissociation as a way to protect themselves from trauma. Sometimes the slightest and smallest piece of a traumatic memory may bring into play the dissociation. When these individuals experience dissociation

Jane is a nine year old girl who has been brought in to therapy by her mother for stealing, being destructive, lying, behaving aggressively toward her younger siblings, and acting cruelly to animals. Jane has also been acting clingy and affectionate toward strangers.

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

People are exposed to struggles in life on a daily basis, although some individuals’ experiences are more traumatic than others’. The way people react to their challenges differs with trauma as well. In Daniel Gilbert’s Immune to Reality, Gilbert describes the psychological immune system, which is a defense mechanism of the mind. The psychological immune system is recognized as a way for the brain to find ways to deal with the harsh realities of life. Contrastingly, Martha Stout in When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday focuses on dissociation, which is common in people who have experienced trauma. It is similar to Gilbert’s psychological immune system, as they are both mental systems of defense, but instead of helping an individual cope with hard times, dissociation causes complete separation of the mind from the body as an escape from reality. Dissociation from non-traumatic events is harmful to people’s psychological well-being because it makes

Seven billion people, seven billion different faces, seven billion unique characters, and most importantly, seven billion significant identities. Trauma, is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience, everyone experience trauma in their life, from breaking their bones to surviving a Nazi concentration camp. Identities are changed during these experiences, negative or positive, one’s identity can be described as your personality and who you are. Everyone’s identity changed during their life from different events that occur in their life. Elie Wiesel’s memoir ‘Night’ and his famous Nobel Prize acceptance speech are two of the most moving and touching examples of how horrible traumatic experiences can be. Traumatic experience is far worse than you think it is, and the changes of one’s identity is bigger than anyone could imagine. Traumatic experiences affect one’s

It will be important to conduct the trauma based assessment as early as possible. However, it is vital that a therapeutic rapport be established with the client before proceeding in asking questions regarding the trauma. It takes time for a traumatized individual to trust and be willing to disclose their experiences. When it is felt that the client is ready it is important to let the client know that they have the right to not answer questions. It is important to discuss why we are asking the questions and ensuring the client that we have their best interests in mind and can provide them with a safe and secure location to work through the trauma.

The Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), originally published by the Psychological Assessment Resources, in 1995 and created by John Briere Ph. D., is utilized to evaluate acute and chronic posttraumatic symptomology. The materials associated with administering this test include the use of a computer with Windows XP, 7, 8, or 10, must maintain a NTFS file system, CD-ROM drive for installation, internet connection or a telephone in order to activate. One can download all of the other necessary materials from PariConnect, which include the introductory kit, necessary software, professional manuals, scoring sheets, among other reusable booklets. Prices range from $52.00 upwards to $375.00.

Trauma of any kind has a long lasting effect on individuals and it is important that PTSD (Post Trauma Stress Disorder) survivors know that there is help and to be OK with asking for help. Shame plays a large role in PTSD and many victims feel that they are weak because they can't get a handle on their lives. Then they develop survival behaviors, which in fact, do not serve them at all and a vicious circle begins.

Trauma occurs when a child has experienced an event that threatens or causes harm to her emotional and physical well-being. Events can include war, terrorism, natural disasters, but the most common and harmful to a child’s psychosocial well-being are those such as domestic violence, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, maltreatment, and witnessing a traumatic event. While some children may experience a traumatic event and go on to develop normally, many children have long lasting implications into adulthood.

Exposure to traumatic experiences has always been a part of human life. From back hundreds of years ago till now, for example, attacks by saber tooth tigers or twenty-first century terrorists have likely led to similar psychological responses in survivors of such violence. Literary accounts offer the first descriptions of what we now call posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, authors including Homer (The Iliad), William Shakespeare (Henry IV), and Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities) wrote about traumatic experiences and the symptoms that followed such events. The PTSD diagnosis has filled an important gap in psychiatry in that its cause was the result of an event the individual suffered, rather than a personal weakness. PTSD became a diagnosis with influence from several social movements, such as Veteran, feminist, and Holocaust survivor advocacy groups. Research about Veterans returning from combat was a critical piece to the creation of the diagnosis. War takes a physical and emotional toll on service members, families, and their communities. So, the history of what

Self-conception is an individual’s tentative awareness of his or her strengths and abilities that can be altered from trauma. Psychologically, trauma is a disturbingly painful event that creates an environment of anxiety for an individual. Every person reacts differently to traumatic experiences which pave his or her long-term effects; while one may develop different coping techniques to purge the effects of trauma, the memories cannot help but be imbedded in his or her subconscious level. In “Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom” and “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday,” Leslie Bell and Martha Stout, respectively, convey the detrimental effects of trauma and how it shapes an individual’s definition of self-conception. In Bell’s “Hard to Get,” self-identity is highlighted through the portrayal of Jayanthi and Alicia

In Martha Stout’s essay “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”, she discusses how a person who has suffered a traumatic experience is most likely to dissociate their individual self from that situation and block it from their mind completely. This form of a solution allows the person to forget the experience and not feel the pain. In “Immune to Reality” Daniel Gilbert describes how every human being contains a psychological immune system, which works to shield us from horrible experiences that threaten our happiness. When experiencing a traumatic event, the psychological immune system responds by “cooking up the facts”, meaning taking the facts of the situation and turning the negative aspects of it into positive views. At first

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.