Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 17

Trauma and the stress response

Impact of trauma on the body


childhood trauma and the brain
What are ACEs?

 Traumatic events that can occur in childhood (0-17)

 A report found that 61% of adults from 25 states indicated that that they had
experienced at least one ACE before the age 18

 Women and children of ethnic minority have greater risk


 There are numerous negative effects of ACEs

(CDC, 2022)
Risk factors

 https://casaspeaks4kids.com/risk-factors-child-abuse-neglect/
Prevention/Protective factors of ACEs

 Strengthen economic supports to families


 Ensure a strong start for children
 Teach skills
 Intervene to lessen immediate and long term harm

(CDC, 2022)
Group Activity
How would you define resilience?

Describe real life examples of resilience taking place


What is resilience?

 Resilience is the ability to successfully adapt or adjust to life experiences


 Factors that contribute to one’s ability to adapt
 Coping strategies
 Social resources
 Ways in which a person views and interacts with the world

(APA, 2023)
Resilience video
Vulnerability to stress

Tolerance (Dan Siegel- “window of tolerance”)


Sensitization
Resilience and vulnerability to stress

 Depends on a person’s neural system’s tolerance or sensitization following earlier


experience

 “Use it or lose it” approach- Perry & Szalavitz, 2006, p. 39

(Perry & Szalavitz, 2006)


Epigenetics

Epigenetics: The study of how behavior and environment can cause


changes that impact how your genes function
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aAhcNjmvhc&t=190s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuIM39dcUs4&t=185s

(CDC, 2022)
Brain on trauma

Right limbic area- emotional brain

Visual cortex- lights up (Brodmann’s area 19)

Broca’s area- significant decrease in this area

(Van der Kolk, 2014)


Right brain vs. Left brain

• Nonverbal communication

Right

• Verbal communication
• Deactivation- impacts the
Left organization of experience

(Van der Kolk, 2014)


Bottom to top brain

 Reptilian brain
 Mammalian brain (limbic system)
 Reptilian brain + mammalian brain = emotional brain
 Neocortex

(Van der Kolk, 2014)


Important anatomy regions

 “Cook and the smoke detector”


 “Watchtower”
 “Rider and the horse”
 Thalamus

(Van der Kolk, 2014)


Trauma and stress

 Adrenaline is a hormone that propels us to fight in the face of danger


 Constantly elevated stress hormones impact memory, attention; cause irritability
and sleep disorders
 Some individuals able to go into denial about potential threats

(Van der Kolk, 2014)


Trauma resources

 https://www.nctsn.org/ (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)

 https://ncsacw.acf.hhs.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf (SAMHSA
Guidance for Trauma-Informed Approach)

You might also like