Definitions & Key Terms
This term describes the unconscious defense mechanism in which a person separates from their thoughts, identity, or memory of traumatic events
What is "dissociation"
Being a soldier who experienced combat is an example of this kind of risk factor for trauma-related disorders.
What is a “traumatic event / exposure to trauma”?
In acute stress disorder, symptoms appear within ___ days of the event and last up to ___ days.
What is “within 3 days and up to 30 days”?
A key first nursing intervention for a patient with PTSD experiencing hyperarousal is to teach and encourage this physiologic technique.
What is “deep breathing/relaxation training”?
A patient has symptoms of intrusion, negative mood, and dissociation within days of a traumatic event, and the symptoms last less than a month. The likely diagnosis is:
What is Acute Stress Disorder?
This is the diagnostic category for disorders triggered by exposure to a traumatic or stressful event, leading to clinically significant symptoms.
What are “Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders”?
A history of childhood abuse or neglect is particularly associated with this kind of disorder among the dissociative disorders.
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?
A patient reports that when reminded of their traumatic accident they feel as though it's happening again and their heart races — this is an example of what symptom cluster?
What is “re-experiencing/flashbacks”?
Explaining to the patient that their physical symptoms (e.g., rapid heartbeat, sweating) are connected to their trauma rather than “just in their head” is an example of this type of nursing action.
What is “psychoeducation”?
Persistent difficulty adapting to a psychosocial stressor (e.g., divorce, job loss) resulting in emotional/behavioral symptoms is the definition of this disorder.
What is an Adjustment Disorder?
This specific disorder involves re-experiencing a traumatic event, avoidance of reminders, persistent arousal for more than one month.
What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
This neurobiological system is overly activated in PTSD, leading to hyperarousal and fight/flight responses.
What is the “sympathetic nervous system”?
A person in a dissociative fugue state will typically have this feature: sudden travel away from home plus inability to recall their past.
What is the characteristic of a dissociative fugue?
For a patient with dissociative identity disorder, a major goal of therapy is integration of the personalities and this.
What is “improved adaptive functioning and coping”?
Someone who travels to a distant place, cannot remember their identity, and assumes a new identity is experiencing this dissociative subtype.
What is “dissociative fugue”?
This term refers to the process of returning to baseline mental health or functioning after exposure to adversity.
What is “resilience”?
This factor — such as a supportive family, good coping skills — can reduce the likelihood of a severe trauma-related disorder.
What are “protective factors”?
When a patient avoids places or reminders associated with a trauma, this is part of which symptom cluster in PTSD?
What is “avoidance”?
A nurse working with a traumatized client should avoid this detrimental intervention: deliberately triggering flashbacks without preparation.
What is “intentionally provoking trauma/flashbacks without safeguards”?
A hallmark of dissociative identity disorder is the existence of two or more distinct personality states plus this symptom related to memory.
What is “amnesia for important personal information”?
This symptom cluster in PTSD includes irritability, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, difficulty sleeping.
What are “arousal and reactivity symptoms”?
This type of stressor involves an event that is unexpected, affects many people, and can overwhelm coping mechanisms (e.g., natural disaster).
What is a “mass trauma” or “disaster” event?
This dissociative symptom involves persistent or recurrent experiences of unreality of self or the environment (feeling detached, “outside body”).
What is “depersonalization/derealization”?
This form of therapy, shown effective in trauma disorders, combines exposure, cognitive-restructuring, and imaging to help reprocess traumatic memories.
What is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)?
Chronic repeated trauma in childhood often leads to complex versions of trauma disorders, sometimes referred to by this term (not formally a diagnosis in DSM-5).
What is “complex PTSD” (or “C-PTSD”)?