Victims of Crime Flashcards
What are the elements that encompass a crisis reaction?
- Trauma
- The Crisis Reaction
- Physical Response
- “Fight or Flight” reaction
- Exhaustion
- The Psychological Response
What is Trauma?
Merriam-Webster defines trauma as a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.
The normal human response to trauma follows a similar pattern called
Crisis Reaction
What is the trauma response based on our animal instincts?
Physical Response
What are the elements of the “frozen fright” reaction?
- physical shock,
- disorientation,
- and numbness
What are the elements of the “Fight-or-flight” reaction?
- Adrenaline begins to pump through body.
- Body may relieve itself of excess materials, like ingested food.
- Physical senses, one or more, may become very acute while others “shut down.”
- Heart rate increases.
- Hyperventilation, sweating, etc.
Physical arousal associated with fight or flight cannot be prolonged indefinitely which eventually will result in
Exhaustion
What are the Mental Psychological Response Stages?
- Stage one: Shock, Disbelief, and Denial
- Stage two: Cataclysm of emotions
- Stage three: Reconstruction of equilibrium
- Stage one: Shock, Disbelief, and Denial
Denial in this sense means truly believing something did not happen, or that it was not as bad as it actually was. This is a psychological defense mechanism that kicks in to protect a person from the full impact of what has happened.
- Stage two: Cataclysm of emotions
Anger/rage, fear/terror, grief/sorrow, confusion/ frustration, guilt/self-blame, violation/vulnerability, and shame/humiliation.
- Stage three: Reconstruction of equilibrium
Emotional roller coaster that eventually becomes balanced.
What are other potential psychological responses the victim may experience?
- Slowed thinking
- Fearful thoughts
- Memory problems
- Distressing dreams
- Blaming
- Illogical thinking
- Flashbacks of a previous trauma
- Intrusive thoughts
- Poor judgment
- Difficulty making decisions
What are other potential behavioral responses the victim may experience?
- Crying spells
- Extreme hyperactivity
- Change in activity level
- Withdrawal
- Increase/decrease in appetite, sleep, or sex drive
- Increased smoking, drug, and/or alcohol use
- Startle easily
- Conflicts with others
- Change in hygiene and/or self-care
- Change in social patterns and/or communication
- Significant increase or decrease in productivity
- Avoiding reminders of event
- Inability to stop focusing on what occurred
- Getting immersed in recovery-related tasks
What does the Range of the Crisis Reaction includes?
- Shock
- Depression and loneliness
- Panic
- Hostility and resentment
- Hope
- Emotion
- Physical symptoms of distress
- Guilt
- Inability to resume normal activities
- Affirming reality
What is Trauma accompanied by?
A multitude of losses:
* Control over one’s life
* Sense of fairness or justice
* A sense of immortality and invulnerability
* Trust in God or in other people
* Personally significant property, self, or loved ones
* Future
