Psychosocial Impact of Trauma
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSP, LMHC
Executive Director: AllCEUs Counselor Education
To access the CEU/OPD/CPD course go to  https://allceus.com/counselortoolbox  in the US or  https://australia.allceus.com/counselortoolbox if you are in Australia.
Objectives
~ Learn about the effects of trauma on the person and the family
~ Explore how these effects impact
~ Mood
~ Behavior
~ Relationships
~ Identify tools to help people navigate life while adjusting to their new reality.
What are the Traumas You See
~ House fire
~ Death
~ Domestic violence
~ Child neglect
~ Miscarriage
~ Forcible felonies: Rape/Robbery
~ Chronic exposure to people who have experienced the above (Counselors, LEO, ER docs, EMS)
Remember
~ What is traumatic to one person may not be traumatic to another
~ What is traumatic to a child may not seem traumatic to an adult
Trauma Triage
~ Being the victim or similarity to the victim
~ Proximity to safe-zone
~ Stressors in the prior 6 months
~ Prior mental health, trauma or substance abuse issues
~ Access to social support within 4, 24, 72 hours
Effects of Trauma on the Person
~ Chronic stress or repeated trauma can result in a number of biological reactions, including a persistent fear state which shapes the perception of the environment.
~ Positive journaling
~ Mindfulness
~ Cognitive behavioral interventions
~ A single trauma can alter a person’s sense of safety and worldview
~ People with a persistent fear response may lose their ability to differentiate between danger and safety, and they may identify a threat in a nonthreatening situation.
~ Fact checker
(https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/brain_development.pdf. National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010b)
Fact Checker
~ What is the situation that is causing me to feel anxious or angry?
~ What are the facts supporting this feeling?
~ Am I confusing high and low probability events?
~ How does this situation remind me of other times when I have been angry or afraid?
~ What is different in this situation?
~ Ex. Walking to your car at night
Trauma’s Impact on the Person
~ Emotions
~ Emotional numbing: Pandora’s box is locked up tight
~ Depression: Hopeless, helpless, loss
~ Anxiety: That it will happen again, that they are broken/unlovable, that they won’t recover,
~ Anger: At God, blaming others and self,
~ Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance
~ Guilt: Self anger for what they did, did not do or just because they survived.
~ PTSD
~ Evaluate for relapse of prior conditions
Trauma’s Impact on the Brain
~ Neuronal pathways that are developed and strengthened under negative conditions prepare children to cope in that negative environment, and their ability to respond to nurturing and kindness may be impaired (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).
~ The brain is still forming these pathways until about 25 years of age. (Soldiers are 18—hmmmm)
~ Children and adolescents who experienced neglect often have:
~ Decreased electrical activity in their brains
~ Decreased brain metabolism
~ Poorer connections between areas of the brain that are key to integrating complex information
~ Abnormal patterns of adrenaline activity (i.e. Hypocortosolism)
(National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2012).
Trauma’s Impact on the Brain
~ Hippocampus:
~ Reduced volume in the hippocampus, which is central to learning and memory (McCrory, De Brito, & Viding, 2010; Wilson, Hansen, & Li, 2011).
~ Reduced ability t