Trauma is an emotional response to a horrific event such as an accident, rape, or natural disaster one may have experienced in his or her life. Immediately after a tragedy, feelings of shock and disbelief are normal. Long-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical problems such as headaches or nausea. Although these feelings seem to be normal, some people may still face great difficulty in moving on with their lives.

The APA defines resilience as “the process and consequence of effectively adapting to difficult or challenging life situations, especially through mental flexibility, emotions and behavior as well as the ability to adjust to external and internal pressures”. Cumulative exposure to childhood adversity was associated with reduced resilience in women in adulthood, regardless of their socioeconomic status or social support (Daníelsdóttir, et al., 2021). This suggests that adult resilience is significantly influenced by childhood experiences. Many studies have shown that people who have experienced childhood trauma have lower levels of resilience, making them more vulnerable to mental health disorders.

Significance of Trauma Therapy & Resilience Therapy

Psychologists can help them develop healthy emotional coping strategies. Trauma Therapy is a therapy technique that recognizes and focuses on understanding how a traumatic event affects a person's mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing of a person. The goal of trauma therapy is to provide skills and strategies to help individuals better understand, manage, and process the emotions and memories related to traumatic experiences, with the ultimate goal of help them create healthier and more adaptive meaning of the experience that has happened in their life. Therefore, understanding trauma therapy plays an important role in minimizing the negative effects of having a history of trauma. Early life events can have magnificent impact of on the individual's cognition, coping skills; long-term physical, mental and behavioral effects of trauma emphasizes the importance of trauma-informed care (Nickerson, Tulledge, & Manges, 2020) (Bryan & Beitz, 2023) (Hawkins & Scribner, 2020).

Resilience therapy is essential to reduce the harmful effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on individuals (Frederick, 2022)(Yinger, 2022)(Giordano & Cipolla, 2023). Incorporating resilience-focused therapies into interventions may help people overcome the challenges associated with ACEs and improve their mental health outcomes.

Bibliography

Bryan, R. H., & Beitz, J. M. (2023). Trauma-Informed Care. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs., 50(4), 276-284. doi:10.1097/WON.0000000000000985

Daníelsdóttir, H. B., Aspelund, T., Þórðardóttir, E. B., Fall, K., Fang, F., Tómasson, G., . . . Valdimarsdóttir, U. A. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences and resilience among adult women: a population-based study. medRxiv. doi:doi: 10.1101/2021.07.05.21260008

Frederick, K. (2022). Resilience Development in Children with Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Role of the Occupational Therapist and the Interdisciplinary Team. Student journal of occupational therapy, 14-29. doi:10.46409/001.yhfa8315

Giordano, F. G., & Cipolla, A. (2023). Building a coordinated response to prevent and respond to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Europe: The Tutor of Resilience program. Maltrattamento e abuso dell'infanzia, 33-64. doi:10.3280/mal2023-001004

Hawkins, C. G., & Scribner, T. (2020). Serving-Up the ACE: Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (“ACE”) in Dependency Adoption Through the Lens of Social Science. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 54(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.36646/mjlr.caveat.54.serving-up

Nickerson, A., Tulledge, J., & Manges, M. (2020). Theories of Crisis and Trauma. In K. K. Kelly, S. A. Garbacz, & C. A. Albers (Eds.), Theories of School Psychology (1st ed., pp. 182-199). New York: Routledge. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351064941

Yinger, O. S. (2022). In L. E. Beer, & J. C. Birnbaum (Eds.). New York: Routledge. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200833