Abstract
Descriptions of trauma—an experience that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope and elicits feelings of terror, helplessness, and/or out-of-control physiological arousal—have appeared in popular, historical, and medical texts for centuries. The relevance of traumatization (i.e., when “both internal and external resources are inadequate to cope with external threat”) (van der Kolk 1989, p. 393) to normal and impaired functioning is described in great detail in social, neuropsychological, and political texts. This chapter summarizes the current understanding of traumatic stress (i.e., the physical and emotional responses to events that threaten the physical or psychic integrity of an individual) and traumatic stress disorders and the evidence for effective intervention. Prevention of trauma, the ultimate effective community intervention, is best described in other texts.
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Special thanks to Greg Sullivan, MD and the JBFCS MKSEI team for contributions and edits.
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Panzer, P.G., Snipes, E., Peacock, C. (2012). Traumatic Stress in the Community: Identification and Intervention. In: McQuistion, H., Sowers, W., Ranz, J., Feldman, J. (eds) Handbook of Community Psychiatry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3149-7_12
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