Unit 1: Intro to trauma and PNUR 2170

Trauma (Klinic, 2013)

A single experience or enduring repeated events that completely overwhelm the individual's ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved

Trauma (Saakvitne et al., 2000)

Unique individual experience of an event or enduring conditions in which the ability to integrate emotional experience is overwhelmed and there's an objective or subjective threat to life, bodily integrity, or that of a caregiver or family

Trauma (TIP Guide)

Experiences that overwhelm an individual's capacity to cope

Modern trauma theory

Trauma and traumatic responses occur along a continuum of severity

What determines whether an event is traumatic

Not the event itself, but the individual's experience of it and the meaning they make of it (Klinic, 2013)

Canadian adults reporting lifetime trauma exposure

76% (BC Provincial Mental Health & Substance Use Planning Council, 2013)

Canadian adults meeting PTSD criteria

9.2%

Canadians with at least one sexually or physically violent incident

About 50% of women and 33% of men

Trauma among people seeking mental health services in North America

The majority have encountered traumatic events (Courtois & Gold, 2009; Muskett, 2014)

Abuse history in serious mental illness, substance abuse and criminal justice populations

Upwards of 90% have a history of significant emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse (Muskett, 2014); replicated in Canada

Trauma among homeless people in 3 BC communities

51% childhood sexual abuse, 55% physical abuse, 60% neglect, 58% emotional abuse; 57% met criteria for current PTSD

Core TIP concepts introduced in Unit 1

Safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment, cultural consideration