Trauma-Informed Flashcards
What is hyper-arousal?
- Anxiety
- Overwhelmed
- Anger/aggression
- Outbursts
- Impulsivity
- Over-eating/restricting
The fight/flight response.
What is hypo-arousal?
- Feign death
- Dissociation
- Shut down
- Memory loss
- Auto-pilot
- Separation from self, feelings, & emotions
The freeze response.
How does the TIP Guide define trauma?
As experiences that overwhelm an individual’s capacity to cope.
It is an individual’s experience of the event - not necessarily the event itself - that is traumatizing.
Those that are unexpected, significantly harmful, and beyond one’s control.
What percentage of all Canadians report some form of trauma exposure in their lifetime?
76%
What are some examples of traumatic experiences?
- Sexual/physical abuse
- Neglect
- Significant personal loss
- Criminal justice involvement
- Violence
- Accidents
- Natural disasters
- War, colonization
What are some dimensions that dictate the significance of the impact of trauma?
- Magnitude
- Frequency
- Duration
- Interpersonal vs. external
- Cumulative vs. additive
What is the difference between cumulative and additive trauma?
Cumulative: The more times a traumatic event is experienced, the greater the impact.
Additive: Exposure to different types of trauma is correlated with greater impact.
How is trauma expressed physically?
- Eating and sleeping disturbances
- Pain
- Low energy
- Panic/anxiety
How is trauma expressed emotionally?
- Depression
- Crying
- Extreme vulnerability
- Emotional numbness
- Fearfulness
How is trauma expressed behaviourally?
- Self-harm
- Substance abuse
- Suicide attempts
- Isolation
- Unhealthy relationships
How is trauma expressed spiritually?
- Guilt/shame
- Questioning one’s purpose
- Feeling like a “bad” person
How is trauma expressed cognitively?
- Memory loss
- Recollections
- Difficulty making decisions
- Inability to concentrate
Compared with people with 0 ACE’s, people with 5 or more were how many more times likely to report illicit drug use problems?
7-10x more likely.
What is trauma informed practice?
- Multi-level approach to service delivery
- Not therapy
- Not a counselling technique
- A paradigm for service delivery
- Moves approach from “What is wrong with this person?” to “What has happened to this person?”
What is the difference between trauma-informed vs. trauma-specific treatment?
Trauma-informed is a global response, whereas trauma-specific aims to facilitate the healing in a person with trauma.
Trauma-informed is a framework in which we do all of our work, whereas trauma-specific is a service provided within a trauma-informed framework.
Does trauma-informed practice require disclosure of trauma?
Which principle is it based on?
No.
Based on the principle, “Do no harm”.
What does trauma-informed practice focus on? What about trauma-specific services?
Trauma-informed practice focuses on understanding the impacts of trauma and creating safety.
Trauma-specific services focus directly on the trauma & on trauma recovery.
What is the Judith Herman 3-stage model?
1) Establishing safety (stabilization)
2) Remembrance & mourning
3) Reconnection
What are the 4 R’s that organizations and their staff must follow in a trauma-informed practice?
REALIZE the prevalence of trauma
RECOGNIZE how trauma affects everyone involved with the organization
RESPOND by putting that knowledge
RESIST re-traumatization
What are ways NOT to be trauma-informed?
- Lack of education
- Misdiagnosis of trauma responses
- “Tradition of toughness”
- Closed system
- Lack of understanding
- Labeling language
- Lack of respect in routine interactions
- Imposing automatic inflexible consequences
- Power & control reside exclusively with staff
What are some popular misconceptions surrounding TIP?
- Assuming everyone who has experienced trauma needs treatment.
- TIP means “letting people do whatever they want, without consequence”
- TIP means addressing people’s trauma
How can trauma affect the body?
When trauma and abuse become chronic, our bodies remain in a constant state of alertness.
Over time, this can stress the body’s internal systems, leading to many health problems.
A person’s ability to differentiate between threatening and harmless stimuli becomes compromised.
They then have a difficult time learning, remembering, and maintaining steadiness day-to-day.
What does it mean that stress & trauma can shrink your window of tolerance?
It may be harder to stay calm and focused. When you’re outside your window of tolerance, you may be more easily thrown off balance.
What is attachment?
The basis for a child’s understanding of safety, development of emotional regulation, coping, learning, and identity.
What are the 4 different attachment styles?
1) Secure (I’m ok, ur ok)
2) Anxious-preoccupied (I’m not ok, ur ok)
3) Dismissive-avoidant (I’m ok, ur not ok)
4) Fearful-avoidant (I’m not ok, ur not ok)
What does Dr. Gabor Mate say about attachment-trauma?
Attachment-trauma is connected to:
1) Lack of consistently safe relationships with caregivers
2) Inability to be authentic AND maintain secure attachment
What are personality disorders?
Inflexible and maladaptive patterns of behaviour reflecting extreme variants of normal personality traits that have become rigid and dysfunctional.
What are the types of personality disorders?
Antisocial Avoidant Borderline Dependent Histrionic Narcissistic Obsessive-compulsive Paranoid Schizoid Schizotypal
What are the 4 trauma-informed principles according to the TIP Guide 2013?
1) Awareness
2) Safety & trustworthiness
3) Choice, collaboration, & connection
4) Strengths-based & skill building
What are the 6 key principles of trauma-informed practices?
- Acknowledgement
- Safety
- Trustworthiness
- Choice & control
- Relational & collaborative approaches
- Strengths-based empowerment modalities
What is awareness?
Refers to the awareness of the prevalence and impacts of trauma.
What is safety?
Refers to physical, psychological, emotional, cultural, & spiritual safety.
What is containment?
Refers to maintaining appropriate, healthy boundaries, and fostering internal regulation.
How can we make safety the top priority?
- Minimize triggers
- Attend to dysregulation
- Avoid re-traumatization
- Do no harm
What is re-traumatization?
A situation, attitude, interaction, or environment that reminds an individual of a past trauma and that triggers the overwhelming feelings & reactions associated with that experience.
Often replicates the dynamics of the original trauma.
What are some examples of potentially re-traumatizing scenarios in a therapeutic setting?
- Challenging or discounting reports of abuse
- Allowing the abusive behaviour of one client towards another to continue
- Applying rigid agency policies or rules
What is trustworthiness?
Refers to us acting in ways that make us trustworthy (not about whether we trust our clients).
What is the acronym BRAVING?
Boundaries Reliability Accountability Vault Integrity Nonjudgment Generosity
What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?
Sympathy: I feel sorry for you
Empathy: I’m here with you
What are some tips you can use to increase/foster autonomy?
- Ask permission
- Identify “negotiables” and “non-negotiables”
- Ask input & feedback, explore hesitations & motivations
What is “strengths-based empowerment”?
Strengths-based: About identifying each person’s strengths - be specific.
Empowerment: The process of becoming stronger and more confident. Gaining the ability to control one’s life, increasing self-determination.
What are the ABC’s of addressing trauma exposure response?
Awareness
Balance
Connection
