Trauma as Medicine


Book Description

On a cold winter's morning in December of 1995 Sarah Salter-Kelly’s mother was brutally raped and murdered in a dark parkade by a stranger. After being found guilty of first-degree murder, the perpetrator suicided in prison. In Trauma as Medicine, Sarah shares her inspirational story as a template to guide the reader in their own journey of transformation. She encourages you to consider the life lessons you came here to learn are found in the center of your greatest challenges, and if you lean in, miracles unfold. For Sarah, these miracles became a path of Forgiveness and Compassion. Ten years after her mother’s homicide she was compelled to understand the bad guy. Who was he, who were his people, and what had transpired to lead him into the parkade that day? Her desire for shared humanity led her to the First Nations land of his ancestors where she received a profound education in the history of colonization in Canada. This is a real-life example of metabolizing trauma on a personal and collective level, for deep soul healing. This book includes the following practices and teachings to guide your way: Journal exercises, meditations & ceremonies Connecting with your Helping Spirits, Ancestors & Source Guidelines for creating sacred space focused on relationship with Mother Earth Altered states, such as Shamanic Journey & Ayahuasca Facing fear, using triggers as resources Metabolizing trauma & embodying your medicine Forgiveness Collective healing & being of service




Trauma


Book Description

Trauma: A Comprehensive Emergency Medicine Approach is a fully illustrated, interdisciplinary overview of trauma. Using both evidence-based approaches and a practical understanding of the emergency department, it gives a broad and in-depth review of trauma care. The entire spectrum of trauma presentations is reviewed from minor soft-tissue injuries through to major life-threatening conditions. Written by over 50 expert contributors, it gives concrete and practical recommendations for evaluation, treatment, consultation and disposition decisions on both common and unusual conditions. Extensive use of photographs, illustrations and key information boxes is used to make the material accessible. Additional sections provide an overview of multiple other issues relating to emergency management of trauma including administrative, nursing, research and legal matters. This book provides an essential reference for anyone who is called upon to provide acute trauma care in the emergency department.




Managing the Psychological Impact of Medical Trauma


Book Description

What to do when treatment becomes trauma Of increasing concern to all health professionals is the mental and emotional trauma that can result from adverse medical experiences ranging from life-threatening events to even routine medical procedures. This groundbreaking book is the first to conceptualize the psychological aspects of medical trauma and provide mental health and health care professionals with models they can use to intervene when treatment becomes trauma. The book delivers systems-level strategies for supporting patients and their families who experience distress in the medical setting or as a result of life-threatening or life-altering diagnoses and procedures. Reflecting the growing trend toward interprofessional practice and training in health care and initiatives toward patient-centered care, the book also describes models that promote the seamless integration of mental health professionals into the health care team. The book reflects the PPACA mandate to integrate mental health services into health care in order to both ensure the psychological and emotional well-being of patients and to provide support and guidance to health care professionals. Using an inclusive model of medical trauma, the book examines the effects and complexity of the trauma experience within the medical setting; addresses patient, medical staff, and procedural risk factors regarding specific level 1, 2, and 3 traumas; discusses the effects of environment and medical staff interactions; and covers intervention and prevention. The book also highlights examples of health care systems and organizations that have successfully applied innovative ideas for treating the whole person. Extensive case studies addressing the three levels of medical trauma illustrate its effects and how they could have been better managed. Key Features: Addresses psychological trauma resulting from adverse medical experiences—the first book to do so Provides effective models for addressing trauma in health care based on maternal health protocols from NCSWH Includes effective new models, protocols, and best practices for all mental health and health care professionals Presents extensive case examples of levels 1, 2, and three medical trauma Disseminates valuable resources and screening and measurement tools




Looking at Trauma


Book Description

Looking at Trauma: A Tool Kit for Clinicians is an easy-to-use, engaging resource designed to address the challenges health care professionals face in providing much-needed trauma psychoeducation to clients with histories of childhood trauma. Developed by trauma therapists Abby Hershler and Lesley Hughes in collaboration with artist Patricia Nguyen and biomedical communications specialist Shelley Wall, this book presents twelve trauma treatment models accompanied by innovative and engaging comics. The models help clinicians provide practical information about the impacts of trauma to their clients—and support those clients in understanding and managing their distressing symptoms. Topics covered include complex posttraumatic stress disorder, emotion regulation, memory, relationship patterns, and self-care. Each chapter features step-by-step instructions on how to use the treatment models with clients; practical educational tips from experienced clinicians in the field of childhood trauma; interactive trauma education comics; a foundational framework focused on care for the provider; and references for further study. Intended for use in therapeutic, clinical, and classroom settings, this book is a valuable resource for all healthcare workers. In particular, social workers, psychotherapists, spiritual care providers, nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, primary care physicians, and psychiatrists will find this tool kit indispensable.




Tools for Transforming Trauma


Book Description

Tools for Transforming Trauma provides clinicians with an integrative framework that covers a wide range of therapeutic modalities and a "black bag" full of therapeutic tools for healing trauma patients.




Healing Trauma


Book Description

Born out of the excitement of a convergence of ideas and passions, this book provides a synthesis of the work of researchers, clinicians, and theoreticians who are leaders in the field of trauma, attachment, and psychotherapy. As we move into the third millennium, the field of mental health is in an exciting position to bring together diverse ideas from a range of disciplines that illuminate our understanding of human experience: neurobiology, developmental psychology, traumatology, and systems theory. The contributors emphasize the ways in which the social environment, including relationships of childhood, adulthood, and the treatment milieu change aspects of the structure of the brain and ultimately alter the mind.




The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease


Book Description

There is now ample evidence from the preclinical and clinical fields that early life trauma has both dramatic and long-lasting effects on neurobiological systems and functions that are involved in different forms of psychopathology as well as on health in general. To date, a comprehensive review of the recent research on the effects of early and later life trauma is lacking. This book fills an obvious gap in academic and clinical literature by providing reviews which summarize and synthesize these findings. Topics considered and discussed include the possible biological and neuropsychological effects of trauma at different epochs and their effect on health. This book will be essential reading for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, mental health professionals, social workers, pediatricians and specialists in child development.




A National Trauma Care System


Book Description

Advances in trauma care have accelerated over the past decade, spurred by the significant burden of injury from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Between 2005 and 2013, the case fatality rate for United States service members injured in Afghanistan decreased by nearly 50 percent, despite an increase in the severity of injury among U.S. troops during the same period of time. But as the war in Afghanistan ends, knowledge and advances in trauma care developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) over the past decade from experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq may be lost. This would have implications for the quality of trauma care both within the DoD and in the civilian setting, where adoption of military advances in trauma care has become increasingly common and necessary to improve the response to multiple civilian casualty events. Intentional steps to codify and harvest the lessons learned within the military's trauma system are needed to ensure a ready military medical force for future combat and to prevent death from survivable injuries in both military and civilian systems. This will require partnership across military and civilian sectors and a sustained commitment from trauma system leaders at all levels to assure that the necessary knowledge and tools are not lost. A National Trauma Care System defines the components of a learning health system necessary to enable continued improvement in trauma care in both the civilian and the military sectors. This report provides recommendations to ensure that lessons learned over the past decade from the military's experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq are sustained and built upon for future combat operations and translated into the U.S. civilian system.




The Myth of Normal


Book Description

The instant New York Times bestseller By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health? Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Cowritten with his son Daniel, The Myth Of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.




Trauma-Informed Healthcare Approaches


Book Description

Interpersonal trauma is ubiquitous and its impact on health has long been understood. Recently, however, the critical importance of this issue has been magnified in the public eye. A burgeoning literature has demonstrated the impact of traumatic experiences on mental and physical health, and many potential interventions have been proposed. This volume serves as a detailed, practical guide to trauma-informed care. Chapters provide guidance to both healthcare providers and organizations on strategies for adopting, implementing and sustaining principles of trauma-informed care. The first section maps out the scope of the problem and defines specific types of interpersonal trauma. The authors then turn to discussion of adaptations to care for special populations, including sexual and gender minority persons, immigrants, male survivors and Veterans as these groups often require more nuanced approaches. Caring for trauma-exposed patients can place a strain on clinicians, and approaches for fostering resilience and promoting wellness among staff are presented next. Finally, the book covers concrete trauma-informed clinical strategies in adult and pediatric primary care, and women’s health/maternity care settings. Using a case-based approach, the expert authors provide real-world front line examples of the impact trauma-informed clinical approaches have on patients’ quality of life, sense of comfort, and trust. Case examples are discussed along with evidence based approaches that demonstrate improved health outcomes. Written by experts in the field, Trauma-Informed Healthcare Approaches is the definitive resource for improving quality care for patients who have experienced trauma.