Abnormal Psych Trauma

Test 3

Trauma

Intense experiences that cause harm to an individual’s emotional and physical well-being

“Common” types of trauma

Combat exposure, Victimization or Abuse, Natural disaster, Terrorism, Torture

traumas early in life…

are more often integrated into a person’s personality

DSM-5 criterion for trauma exposure

Directly experience Witness the event as it occurred to others Learning the traumatic event occurred to family or friend Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of a traumatic event

Psychological stress disorder (& the difference)

Acute Stress Disorder (symptoms < 1 month) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (symptoms \> 1 month)

Some factors that contribute to PTSD development

Longer traumas, repeated traumas, traumas that occur early on in someone's life, and traumas that are interpersonally perpetrated and baseline levels of high trade anxiety

Symptoms of PTSD and acute stress disorder

Re - experiencing the traumatic event, Avoidance, Negative alterations in cognitions and mood, Increased arousal and reactivity

Re-experiencing the traumatic event

intrusion, intrusive and distressing thoughts, memories, dreams Flashbacks

Avoidance

Avoid activities that are reminders of trauma (e.g., situations, thoughts, or feelings) Important to psychotherapy, avoidance reinforces avoidance

Negative alterations in cognitions and mood

Detachment from other people Loss of interest in activities that once brought enjoyment

Increased arousal and reactivity

Hyper-alertness, exaggerated startle response Concentration difficulties, sleep disturbance takes it tole on the body

Trigger

any person, place, situation, object or internal sensation that reminds the person of something present at the time of the initial trauma

internal triggers

Bodily responses or thoughts that remind person of their feelings during the trauma

External triggers

persons, place, situation, or object can be associated with positive things

PTSD beliefs

warps view of the world into something inherently dangerous and they believe they are vulnerable to dangers

PTSD prevalence rate

1 yr 3.5%

PTSD onset

Symptoms usually develop within first 3 months following trauma (may be delayed for months or years: repressed memories can bubble up after a reminder (controversial cuz of freud repressed memories )

Natural recovery mechanism

the return to normal state after a trauma within 3 months post trauma

Culture related issues

Risk and severity of PTSD differ across cultural groups as a result of variation in type, impact, and meaning of trauma; women diagnosed with this disorder 2:1 in comparison to men Lower socio - economic status and marginalized minorities

what are factors the increase likelihood of someone getting PTSD

Biological (over - reactive stress circuits) Genetics (both genes and intergenerational transmission) Personality (self - blame) Inaccurately blaming themselves Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Adverse childhood events: divorce, neglect, abuse, SA, loss of a parent Low Social Support Low SES, Minority Status: increase victimization Severe & Prolonged Traumas: will increase likelihood of PTSD Intentionally inflicted traumas: if someone is intentionally inflecting trauma (moral thingie )

PTSD treatment generally

focusing on talk about the trauma in order to get better Basic Goals: End the stress reactionGain perspective on painful experiencesReturn to constructive living

PTSD behavioral exposure treatment

Making sense of the trauma by exposure to the traumatic memory Both imaginal and in vivo exposure Re - telling the story of the trauma in order to stop avoiding thoughts/memories of the event (imaginal exposure)Doing work outside of therapy to confront situations or other reminders of the trauma “in real life” ( in vivo exposure)

PTSD EMDR treatment

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Developed by Francine Shapiro Move eyes in rhythmic manner from side to side Flood mind with images of situations ordinarily avoided issues What is the exact mechanism that causes this to work?Is this just a different type of Exposure Therapy?

PTSD Insight treatment

Discuss deep - seated feelings Accept actions and experiences: if everyone could predict actions to change trauma then no one would have trauma Become less judgmental of the self Learn to trust other people

PTSD Cognitive treatment

Examine and change dysfunctional attitudes and styles of interpretation

PTSD Narrative therapy

Writing about the trauma from a narrative perspective “rescripting” often used for nightmares- write your nightmares with a different outcome

Psychopharmacological treatments

SSRI’s: helpful for reducing baseline anxiety Prazosin – effective in reducing nightmares Controversial: psychedelic drugs (psilocybin & MDMA) Help put trauma in context - reduces pessimistic thoughtsBad trip doesn’t necessarily mean the treatment didn’t work

PTSD mindfulness based treatment

acceptance is an important component of being able to heal from a trauma, being able to accept that the trauma happened

PTSD controversies

Legal implications of diagnosis?:One of the only disorders you can sue someone for giving you Are memories of trauma accurate? What about recovered or repressed memories?

Critical incident stress debriefing

Victims are helped to talk about feelings and reactions to traumatic incidents within days of the incident occurring Research has demonstrated equal (or even higher) rates of PTSD in debriefed groups Interferes with someone’s natural recovery mechanisms