Trauma Basics
An event or series of events, an experience or prolonged experiences, and/or a threat or perceived threat to a person’s well-being
What is trauma?
This type of trauma occurs over a period of time and is more likely to affect someone's personality or sense of self
What is Complex/Developmental trauma
People who have experienced trauma may struggle with this when they have a a difficult time relying on others and believing others are telling the truth.
What is trust?
This model includes the reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the neocortex
What is the Triune Brain Model
Also called "rest and digest response" this nervous system is responsible for slowing heart rate and breathing and increasing gastrointestinal activity
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
These mechanisms are negatively impacted by trauma
What are daily coping mechanisms?
This is a colloquial or short-hand/abbreviation for the two types of trauma
What is "Big T" and "Little T"
A trauma survivor has __________ instead of _________
Symptoms; memories
These signals act as signs of possible danger and are based on historical traumatic experiences
What are triggers?
This nervous system is responsible for the fight or flight response
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
This is the percentage of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn 4
What is 26%
Also referred to as "Little T" this type of trauma is when a person is exposed to one single overwhelming or traumatic event
What is Acute Trauma?
This symptom is the term for feeling as if you are not going to live past a certain age or not feeling the need to make plans for adulthood.
What is loss of sense of future?
This part of your brain is located in the limbic system and is the emotional memory center
These survival responses involves being unable to move, feeling like your body is shutting down, and dissociation
This is an immediate reaction to a traumatic event in which a person has the drive to fight back, run away, or stay completely still in the face of a threat or perceived threat
Abandonment, neglect, abuse, and witnessing a caretaker engage in substance use is an example of this kind of trauma
What is developmental trauma?
This trauma symptom is the experience of feeling outside of your body or feeling like you are not real or disconnected from your body
What is dissociation?
This part of your brain is responsible for thinking and judgment
What is the frontal lobe/neocortex
When we are in this state, we experience panic, hyperactivity, exaggerated startle, and inability to relax
What is hyperarousal?
This is a long term reaction to trauma and a diagnosis found in the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
These are events such as school shootings, car accidents involving fatalities and refugee dissociation are single traumatic events that are devastating enough to have long-lasting effects
Crossover trauma
This is a symptom of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that involves constantly being worried and alert that something bad is going to happen.
Hypervigilance or hyperarousal
This part of your brain is responsible for basic instincts and triggers the fight or flight response
What is the reptilian brain?
This is the optimal zone where you can deal with stress from every day life
What is the window of tolerance?