TRAUMA INTERVENTIONS

Individual to Community Interventions Therapeutic Responses to Trauma

Individual to Community Interventions Therapeutic Responses to Trauma

Introduction

Trauma is a result of exposure to a stressful event that affects a person's coping mechanisms and has serious psychiatric consequences (Johnson, 2005, pp. 12).This disorder develops after exposure to distressing events, in which an individual feels fear and helplessness, in response to such an event, he develops symptoms that impair social or occupational life. These symptoms may persist for a month. Trauma in the context of a community occurs in:

Natural disaster

Terrorism

Accident

Crime (Courtois, 2008, pp. 86-100).

Discussion

The Limitations and Benefits of Broadening the Focus of Trauma Interventions

Psychological trauma is usually considered as post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the American Psychiatric Association post-traumatic stress disorder may develop as a response to a personally experienced or witnessed extremely traumatic event. This traumatic event is sudden and unaccepted.The intense fear of threatened or imminent death causes an intense reaction in the victim, witnessing the event. The examples of stress include violent, physical, personal or sexual assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage, military combat, terrorist attack, torture, incarceration, natural or manmade disasters, motor vehicle accidents, or being diagnosed with life-threatening illness(Jakopac & Patel, 2009, pp. 45).

The signs and symptoms of PTSD may include depression, anxiety, dissociation or dissociation amnesia de-realization, nightmares or disturbing dreams, flashbacks, avoidance of anything associated with traumatic event, emotional numbing or absence functional responses, feeling of detachment, hyperarousal, poor concentration and irritability, and out bursts of anger. They also experience significant problems functioning in occupational, social, and academia areas. Early detection of symptoms can help the person achieve a better quality of life (Jakopac & Patel, 2009, pp. 45).There are various methods for trama management such as psychological debriefing ,cognitive therapy exposure therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and medication (Creamer & Philips, 2007, pp. 26-27).

These therapies are effective and beneficial to deal with PTSD ,these can be broaden to include other psychotherapeutic interventions such as humanistic or psychodynamic treatment, relaxation training, cognitive processing therapy, biofeedback, stress inoculation training, exposure therapy, assertiveness training and combination therapies. After treatment, a patient develops increased physiological responding, reduction in anxiety depression, and increased skills, vigor and confidence (Lee, Gavriel, Drummond, Richards, & Greenwald, 2002, pp. 1071-1089).The limitations of the trauma intervention depend on the following factors:

The Nature and Intensity of the Trauma Incident Certain experiences are so overwhelming that they cause symptoms, such as chronic childhood abuse cause intense and devastating effect (Kubany, Hill & Owens, 2004, pp. 3-18).

Sensitization due to Previous Trauma Sensitization can create a delayed onset of symptoms. The counsellor may miss the symptoms when the patient is not aware of prior trauma.

Hereditary Factors that Affect Defensive Functioning Inherited factors increase the vulnerability of person to the depressive effects of events. These factors change the person's tolerance to stress.

Age at the Time of the Trauma The person's age influence the effect of trauma, as the traumatic events in early childhood adversely affects the future development of the ...