Trauma, the Body, and Social Work Practice

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the physiological and social work perspective of trauma, nervous system regulation, somatic interventions, and clinical implications for practice.

Nervous System Problem

A perspective shift in trauma-informed care where trauma is understood as an overwhelmed physiological state rather than solely a cognitive or thinking problem.

Trauma (Levine definition)

The result of an incomplete biological response to a threat rather than the event itself, stored within the nervous system.

The Survival Menu

The primary physiological responses of the nervous system when overwhelmed: Fight (anger), Flight (anxiety/avoidance), Freeze (shutdown/numb), and Fawn (people pleasing).

Window of Tolerance

A key concept representing the range of nervous system arousal where a person can successfully process stress and return to baseline.

Implicit Memory

Unconscious memory storage that operates outside awareness, manifesting as physical sensations, emotions, and reflexes rather than a linear narrative.

Somatic Memory

A type of implicit memory characterized by body sensations, posture, and automatic reactions like a tight chest or startle response.

Bottom-up Processing

A primary pathway in trauma where sensory input from the body and environment is processed by survival centers before reaching the thinking brain.

Top-down Processing

A pathway involving the rational brain (prefrontal cortex) attempting to regulate and reason with emotional and physical responses.

Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)

The division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for 'ON/GO' mode, mobilization, and survival behaviors like fight or flight.

Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)

The division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for 'OFF/SHUTDOWN' mode, rest, digestion, and repair.

Dorsal Vagal Activation

A state within the parasympathetic system associated with hypoarousal, numbing, dissociation, and collapse.

Oasis of Safety

An essential therapeutic goal of establishing a physiological sense of relief and calm before engaging with traumatic material.

Pendulation (Looping)

A Somatic Experiencing technique where the client shifts back and forth between small pieces of traumatic material and established resources.

Biological Completion

The process of allowing the body to 'finish' thwarted survival actions (fight, flight, or freeze) to discharge trapped survival energy.

Titration

The practice of working with traumatic material in very small increments or doses to avoid re-traumatization.

Slower is Faster

The principle that working gradually in small increments is more effective for trauma resolution than recounting the entire story at once.

Co-regulation

The process where a therapist’s calm and settled presence provides the most powerful tool for helping a traumatized child or client regulate.

Agency

The restoration of choice, pacing, and bodily autonomy that is often stripped away by both trauma and addiction.

HPA Axis

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which becomes chronically activated in trauma, leading to high stress and low distress tolerance.

Adaptive Coping

The understanding of trauma symptoms and behaviors (including substance use) as survival strategies rather than pathology or deficits.

Racialization Trauma

Cumulative and chronic psychological injury resulting from ongoing experiences of racism and systemic oppression.

Weathering

The biological wear and tear on the body caused by the chronic stress of living with pervasive racial threats.

Microaggressions

Everyday slights, insults, or invalidations that contribute to 'death by a thousand cuts' and trigger survival responses.

DARVO

A perpetrator response pattern coined by Jennifer J. Freyd: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.

Renegotiation

A healing process focused on revisiting trauma in a safe, controlled way to allow the body to complete survival responses.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing; an evidence-based treatment that uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain file 'stuck' trauma in the past.

Posttraumatic Growth (PTG)

Positive psychological changes and transformation experienced as a result of adversity and recovery.

Vicarious Trauma (VT)

The cumulative internal transformation in a therapist’s belief systems and worldviews resulting from empathetic engagement with client trauma.

Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth (VPTG)

Positive psychological changes experienced by clinicians as a result of witnessing the resilience and healing of trauma survivors.

Interoception

The awareness of internal body states; a skill that can be disrupted by chronic stress or systemic oppression.

The Five Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Treatment

As defined by Covington ($2015$): Safety, Trustworthiness, Choice, Collaboration, and Empowerment.

Thwarted Responses

Interrupted biological survival actions that arise during threat but cannot be completed, leading to stored trauma energy.