Overview

When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going. Right?  Eighties hits aside, it remains true that people are expected to keep going when life throws obstacles in their way – from everyday stressors to complex trauma.  But as we know, not everyone keeps going – sometimes there aren’t the resources, or the skills.  Or sometimes the way a person “gets going” again inevitably causes them further damage.

In this topic, we will look at the kinds of tough experiences that people live with – especially the clinical aspects of psychological trauma. We will examine its prevalence and the factors shaping its development across individual, community, sociopolitical, and planetary contexts. We will also consider the different strategies people use to adapt to these difficult emotions, both helpful and ultimately unhelpful, and why a person may adopt such a strategy.

By completing this subject, students will gain a better understanding of the range of clinical features and presentations trauma can take, and develop key skills around communication and trauma-informed care. Students will also develop an ability to place adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies into context, recognising risk factors and strategies which may support people to find healthier, more successful ways to cope.  Finally, it will also allow them to reflect on the ways in which their own experiences and coping strategies may impact on their work as clinicians.

Intended learning outcomes

• Define and describe psychological trauma, contrasting this with popular community perceptions.
• Apply relevant theoretical frameworks to clinical scenarios to explain how traumatic experiences relate to psychological symptoms and maladaptive behaviours.
• Demonstrate an appropriate trauma-informed approach to a patient assessment.
• Classify signal types and group appropriately to relevant medical condition.
• Outline a trauma-informed approach to the assessment of patients’ coping behaviours, both adaptive (such as help-seeking behaviours) and maladaptive (such as substance abuse).
• Explain how environments and systems can worsen or perpetuate trauma and maladaptive coping.
• Identify sources and manifestations of health worker trauma.
• Critically reflect on clinical interactions with patients, identifying situations where personal views or experiences may have impacted on the interaction.