One of the most unsettling lessons I have learned in the Trauma and Crisis Intervention course is that acts of pure evil and malice are not always committed by malevolent people. Before reading Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men, I found it easy to believe that the perpetrators of the Holocaust were fundamentally different from others, that […]
Sexual assault is a traumatic experience that can have lasting psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects on survivors. Many of these survivors experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Van der Kolk (2014) explains how some individuals who have experienced trauma have a difficult time moving past their experience, making it difficult to bridge the […]
When we think about trauma, we often focus on the people directly experiencing it. We think about victims of violence, abuse, or disasters, but we don’t always stop to consider the professionals who witness these experiences every day. Social workers, police officers, behavioral specialists, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals spend their careers supporting individuals […]
Childhood trauma is more common than many realize, and its effects can echo far into adulthood if left unrecognized or untreated. Traumatic experiences during the formative years may include abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, or living through natural disasters, but they can also stem from more subtle yet persistent stressors such as prolonged family instability or […]
What is trauma? “Trauma is an unexpected and sudden event, a shocking event, there is a feeling of bodily harm or that somebody can hurt me, physically and emotionally. It usually includes an intense terror and a feeling of helplessness” (MIMH, 2008). Trauma is individual, and not everyone has the same experience with it. Even […]
I believe that addressing the neurobiological aspect of trauma is vital in understanding the negative effects of trauma. Firstly, trauma is a term used to describe the experience or circumstances that occur which in turn have a negative effect on an individual. This can be quite devastating as one would imagine. Some may experience trauma […]
“I intentionally hold the opposing ideas of absence and presence, because I have learned that most relationships are indeed both.” – Pauline Boss, Ph.D. In the last 50 years, our understanding of the spectrum that grief encompasses has grown immensely. Yet, grief is still wildly misunderstood and unrecognized in our culture. For some, we grant […]
St. Louis city has a terrible reputation as being a dangerous city overrun by crime. Most of the crime is centered in two districts of northern St. Louis City. “There is this conception of the city as crime-ridden throughout,” says University of Missouri–St. Louis criminology professor Richard Rosenfeld. Looking at the homicide rate, which ranks […]
“I intentionally hold the opposing ideas of absence and presence, because I have learned that most relationships are indeed both.” – Pauline Boss, Ph.D. In the last 50 years, our understanding of the spectrum that grief encompasses has grown immensely. Yet, grief is still wildly misunderstood and underrecognized in our culture. For some, we […]
One critical risk-factor leading people to the criminal justice system is trauma. An estimated 93% of youths involved in the system have a history of trauma (Maschi & Schwalbe, 2012, p 21). The earlier that trauma can be addressed, the less likely someone is to later become involved in the legal system. The American Psychological […]