Promoting Positive Processes after Trauma
()
About this ebook
Promoting Positive Processes After Trauma targets one of the most damaging effects of trauma, ongoing impairment across the whole of "living." Viewing clients with trauma histories from the perspectives of their shared experiences is the foundation for the application of six strengths and virtues studied by positive psychology: hope, positive emotions, resilience, forgiveness, spirituality and religiosity, and meaning-making. The lived trauma experience of the contributing author illustrates actual means of change
- Presents foundational information and newest findings from trauma and from positive psychology
- Covers strengths and virtues that can be directly targeted in treatment or used as ancillary treatment goals
- Provides further readings suitable for clients and for clinicians
- Concludes with an integrative exploration of the organization of positive processes and their integration into portfolios.
Elizabeth M. Altmaier
Elizabeth Altmaier, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, College of Education, University of Iowa. Professor Altmaier’s research interests concern adjustment to and coping with challenging events and circumstances; her publications focus on cancer and its treatment, interpersonal offenses, and chronic illnesses. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Push back the dark: Companioning adults sexually abused as children (Wipf and Stock). Professor Altmaier is Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She is an active community volunteer, including serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Leaders, Believers and Achievers organization for at risk youth in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Related to Promoting Positive Processes after Trauma
Related ebooks
Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction Therapy: Treating Guilt and Shame Resulting from Trauma and Moral Injury Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReclaiming Life after Trauma: Healing PTSD with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Yoga Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adult Survivors Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Traumatic Childhood Experiences Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trauma Toolbox: Techniques Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Healing Trauma Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHealing Trauma Through Self-Parenting: The Codependency Connection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reconstructing Meaning After Trauma: Theory, Research, and Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrauma, Recovery, and Growth: Positive Psychological Perspectives on Posttraumatic Stress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrimer on Posttraumatic Growth: An Introduction and Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplex Ptsd Recovery Understanding and treating Complex Trauma Using Emdr and Concepts from Individual Psychology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrauma in Personality Disorder: A Clinician’S Handbook the Masterson Approach Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReady, Set, Go!: Addiction Management for People in Recovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMental Disorders, Medications, and Clinical Social Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Trauma: Conversations on Traumatic Incident Reduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soul Light for the Dark Night: Daily Meditations of Healing from Trauma and Abuse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Correlation Between Trauma and Addiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrauma: Treatment and Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPermission Granted: The Journey from Trauma to Healing: From Rape, Sexual Assault, And Emotional Abuse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Book of Trauma Healing: When Violence Striked And Community Security Is Threatened Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrauma and Abuse Healing: The Guide to Using Ritual and Ceremony to Delight in Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsychological Trauma: A Collection of Essays Ranging from Domestic to Political Abuse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrauma's Labyrinth: Reflections of a Wounded Healer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHandbook for Treatment of Attachment Problems in C: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, an Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gentling Workbook for Teen and Adult Survivors of Child Abuse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conquering Trauma: Why You Cannot Experience Peace And Joy And How To Finally Point Your Life In The Right Direction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsREPAIR Your Life: A Program for Recovery from Incest & Childhood Sexual Abuse Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Small Wonders: Healing Childhood Trauma With EMDR Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sociometrics: Embodied, Experiential Processes for Relational Trauma Repair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Clinicians Journey from Complex Trauma to Thriving: Reflections on Abuse, C-PTSD and Reclamation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex on Fire: Finding Embodied Intimacy After Trauma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Psychology For You
Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Self-Care for People with ADHD: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Prioritize You! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Letting Go: Stop Overthinking, Stop Negative Spirals, and Find Emotional Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laziness Does Not Exist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Fun Personality Quizzes: Who Are You . . . Really?! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Promoting Positive Processes after Trauma
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Promoting Positive Processes after Trauma - Elizabeth M. Altmaier
1989;7:113–136.
1
An introduction to trauma
Abstract
The term trauma
has evolved over the past century, formerly referencing severe physical wounds and now encompassing psychologically damaging events as well as the victim’s subsequent response. The essence of trauma is that of devastating force that overwhelms the victim’s customary beliefs, sources of support, and meaning in life. These impairments of living occur across systems of emotion, cognitions, identity, behavior, and conscious awareness. Newer understandings of trauma have included vicariously acquired trauma, the role of interpersonal betrayal, moral injury as a cause of combat trauma, transgenerational trauma, and traumas unique to refugees and immigrating people groups.
Keywords
Trauma; trauma models; stress reactions
In contemporary society, the words trauma
and traumatic
are ubiquitous. As an example, a search on Twitter revealed that the term traumatic
described the following experiences: taking children to the grocery store, episodes of a television drama, a prom haircut gone wrong, and the relationship dissolution of a well-known celebrity couple. This amplified use has made it exceedingly difficult to comprehend the actual nature of trauma, an event that Herman (1992) described as follows:
Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When that force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning. (p. 33).
Given how many clients come for treatment with a history of trauma, having an accurate understanding of trauma is critical for responding to our clients even if they do not, themselves, cite trauma as the source of their difficulties. In society also, systems and organizations are currently adopting the perspective that working with people having past traumas must incorporate specialized elements. Trauma-informed is the term for this approach (see Ko et al. 2008). Systems that work for children and adults that have been re-envisioned through a trauma-informed lens are in-patient mental health settings, education, community care, critical care, substance abuse treatment, and corrections. A trauma-informed perspective is critical for clinicians as well.
This chapter reviews the history of the concept of trauma; theory and research concerning trauma, including models of how trauma creates impairment among those who experience it; and new contributions to understanding trauma. Included at the end of the chapter are recommended readings for clinicians and for their clients.
What is trauma?
The term trauma
has been used for centuries, and is derived from a Greek word meaning wound. In its original use, trauma
referred to physical injuries in and on the body produced by a suddenly occurring outside force; these injuries were severe, with potential to cause death or prolonged disability. Scoring systems for these physical traumas (see Lecky, Woodford, Edwards, Bouamra, & Coats, 2014) therefore focus on indicators that measure the significant damages present in the body, such as problematic changes in blood pressure and respiration rate, and severe anatomical injuries including burns, dislocations, and lacerations.
Another application of trauma
dates to World War I, where the term was employed for significant psychological damage presumably produced by contiguous physical external forces. Jones, Fear, and Wessely (2007) describe how soldiers’ prolonged exposure to horrific combat conditions resulted in psychological responses such as uncontrollable weeping, becoming mute, and memory loss. At the time, these responses were thought to be caused by the soldiers’ proximity to exploding shells. The term used for these impairments was shell shock, reflecting the belief that the psychological deterioration came from concussive wounds.
A more recent use of trauma
is for psychological damage from external events that do not necessarily involve physical harm. Sometimes these events are called traumatic stressors to reflect the understanding that these external events are not physical in nature. Examples of these stressors are losing a loved one to a violent death, experience of a mass shooting, and terror events such as 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombings. This recent perspective is the basis for the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) definition of trauma precursors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that include:
witnessing, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others; learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or close friend; experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting human remains; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse).
American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
In current psychological research and practice, trauma
refers to both the causative event and the range of physical and psychological responses following the event that disable the individual. Recall Herman’s definition that trauma overwhelms the individual’s usual control, connection, and meaning. There are many such events in our contemporary world that now are recognized as traumatic
and meet the criterion of an overpowering experience.
Mass violence
Recognition of mass violence as a trauma experienced by more than the actual victims dates to 1966, when a sniper on the University of Texas campus killed 16 people and injured 31 others over a 90-minute period. The United States Department of Justice (United States Department of Justice, 2001) defined mass violence as follows: An activity that involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life… that appears to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population…
(United States Department of Justice, 2001, p. 17580). Often mass violence occurs in settings that would have been considered safe by victims: a school (e.g., the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012), a church (e.g., the Emanuel AME Church shooting in 2013), and a community location (e.g., Edmond Oklahoma post office shooting in 1986). The experience of violence in contrast to presumed safety is part of the overwhelming experience of survivors. In a parallel fashion, recent terrorist events have occurred in places associated with tourism or leisure, such as beach promenades or nightclubs.
Sexual assault
Sexual assault, or sexual violence, is a sexual act committed or attempted by another person without freely given consent of the victim
(Centers for Disease Control, 2014b). Acts including actual sexual contact are covered in this definition. However, sexual violence incorporates other forms of assault, such as verbal coercion, and noncontact activities, such as forced viewing of pornography. Additionally, technology can be used as a means of sexual violence. At the time of the writing of this book, the Defense Department of the United States had begun a criminal investigation into a secret Facebook site used to post sexually explicit pictures of female Marines without their knowledge or consent (see Phillips, 2017 and The Guardian, 2017). The pictures were accompanied by comments regarding the women, including aggressive language and threats of sexual