MGG2602
Summary Notes
Notes. Questions.
Answers. Memo
,MGG2602
Summary Notes
Notes. Questions.
Answers. Memo.
,MGG202X – Sexual Trauma Exam Summaries
THEME ONE - DEFINING STRESS, CRISIS AND TRAUMA
Stress:
♦ The strain we feel at different times in our lives or in different situations.
♦ A set of external forces impinging on an individual (unemployment, high crime rate)
♦ A set of psychological and physiological reactions experienced – sweaty hands,
racing heart, negative self-talk.
♦ Nerves, anxiety, panic, tension, pressure.
♦ Stress should be considered an opportunity for growth; the spark that pushes us to
challenge the situations we find ourselves in and to find new ways of coping.
The extent to which the individual experiences stress depends on:
♦ The event itself
♦ The individual’s personality
♦ The individual’s ability to cope
Crisis:
♦ A normal reaction that an individual has to a difficult experience that they have not
had to face before.
♦ When a person is in a crisis they feel confused, overwhelmed and unable to cope.
♦ It may be an external event - work related, losing money; or an internal event caused
by development – becoming a wife etc.
♦ Crisis can be a turning point – an opportunity for an individual to discover and use
inner strengths to adjust to a changing world, find relevant supportive resources and
learn new skills that can be generalised to resolve future crises.
Trauma:
♦ Situations “in which the victims are rendered powerless and great danger is involved”
♦ A profound deviation from normal life experiences
♦ Sudden, overwhelming and unanticipated.
♦ Individual experiences fear, helplessness. Loss of control and extreme powerlessness.
♦ The trauma inducing situations suggests a threat of injury or death of the person or
others around them.
♦ Expected loss – parent, job. Loosing several family members, or an accident, natural
disaster = unexpected, overwhelming, out of the ordinary.
Judith Herman: “Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but
rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptions to life”
♦ Involve threats to life or bodily integrity, or close personal encounter with violence and
death.
♦ Individual feels helplessness and terror
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, MGG202X – Sexual Trauma Exam Summaries
The effects of trauma:
♦ Because of intensity and magnitude, trauma overtaxes the human’s ability to cope.
♦ May damage the mental health.
♦ Traumatised people feel and act as though their nervous systems have been
disconnected from the present.
♦ Person is left with a persistent expectation of danger, an imprint of the traumatic event
that does not want to fade and a numbing response of giving up that becomes
generalised.
♦ Impact of trauma on psyche has major influence on the individual’s normal ways of
thinking and feeling – so previous coping mechanisms are no longer effective /
functional.
♦ Traumatic events may impact on the person’s personhood, individuality and humanity.
The impact of the trauma may be aggravated by the insensitive handling of those
who deal with them after their traumatic event.
Different kinds of trauma
Caused by nature – natural disaster: flood, fires, hurricanes
Caused by humans – an atrocity – man made catastrophes: war, terrorism, bus disasters, civil
unrest
Unintentional violence – car accident, culpable homicide
Intentional violence – physical assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, hijacking – all of
which encompasses forms of victimisation involving a threat to life, health and limb. Sexual
trauma falls within this category.
Direct vs indirect trauma
♦ Traumatic event may affect witnesses and those who have direct contact with the
direct victim = indirect traumatisation. Any person who witnesses a death, rape,
assault of another is at risk of being traumatised.
♦ Symptoms experienced by victims of indirect trauma can be identical to those of the
victims of direct trauma.
♦ Policeman, journalists, helping professionals – need to take precautions against this;
have access to debriefing sessions
♦ Loved ones and family members / children of victims of trauma also can suffer indirect
trauma.
♦ An individual can be both a direct and indirect victim of trauma. i.e. child witnesses
mother being raped (indirect) whilst being held hostage during a robbery (direct)
Single vs Multiple trauma
Single event – armed robbery / loss of a limb / cancer
Multiple – a person who has been hijacked several times.
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