General Knowledge
What is trauma?
Anything that overwhelms your ability to cope.
What are overly negative thoughts about yourself and the world?
Having thoughts like:
It is all my fault.
I can’t trust anyone.
The world is dangerous.
What is fight response ?
A response designed to help us defend ourselves from something or someone who might hurt us
What is TF-CBT?
A type of therapy that involves learning about trauma, relaxation skills, awareness of emotions, challenging trauma thoughts, and telling the trauma story.
True or False:
After a trauma, some people feel lonely, extremely sad or numb, and not interested in things they used to like.
True. It is normal to have feelings of depression and anxiety after a trauma.
What is a traumatic event/stressor?
Exposure to a direct threat of death, actual or threatened injury/violence
What are changes in arousal and reactivity?
Feeling more activated and reactive after a trauma
What is flight response?
A response in which the body temporarily feels immobilized or numbed to prevent being hurt or killed
What is depersonalization?
The experience of feeling like you are not in your body or like you are watching the trauma happening to you from the outside
True or False:
It is normal to have night, flashbacks, and thoughts of the trauma coming to mind when you don’t want them to
True. These are intrusion symptoms and are believed to the brain’s attempt to process the traumatic event.
What are intrusion symptoms?
The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced
True or False:
Everyone will react the same way to something really bad or scary (like a trauma).
False. Everyone is different and will have different responses to a traumatic event, and that is okay!
What is freeze response?
A response in which the body temporarily feels immobilized or numbed to prevent being hurt or killed
What is derealization?
The experience of feeling like things around you are not real, like you are in a dream, or like things are distorted.
What is Post-Traumatic Growth?
Developing a new, positive perspective of self and the world after overcoming the challenges of traumatic stress
What are avoidance symptoms?
Attempting to stay away from things that remind you of the trauma
What are protective factors?
Things that help “soften” the effect of trauma:
Supportive family environment
Adequate housing
Access to health care and social services
Caring adults outside of the home
Community Support
What is fawn response?
A response where we attempt to befriend, submit, or comply with someone who may hurt us to minimize or prevent the hurt
True or False:
After trauma, someone might have a hard time concentrating or falling asleep.
True. Trauma can make it difficult to adjust our energy levels.
What is resiliency?
A person’s ability to “bounce back” or easily recover from stress
True or False:
It is normal to have night, flashbacks, and thoughts of the trauma coming to mind when you don’t want them to
True. These are intrusion symptoms and are believed to the brain’s attempt to process the traumatic event.
True or False:
It’s normal to have a hard time remembering parts before, during, or after the trauma.
True.
What is flop response?
A response in which our body totally collapses, we black out, our we become disoriented/extremely confused
What is hypervigilance?
Feeling extremely alert and more aware of your surroundings like you are waiting for something to happen
What is hypervigilance?
True or False:
After a trauma, some people feel lonely, extremely sad or numb, and not interested in things they used to like.