Robert Lusk – Understanding and Treating Traumatized Youth An Integrated, Evidence-Based Approach

Outline

INTRODUCTION

• Prevalence of psychological trauma in youth
• Common types of trauma

IMPACT AND EFFECTS OF TRAUMA

• Factors impacting the severity of the trauma response
• Long-term effects of interpersonal trauma
• “Trauma aftershocks,” and how professionals can start to have an impact
• The “good news” and “bad news” about the effects of trauma

ISSUES IN DIAGNOSIS

• Diagnosis of trauma responses
  • Stress disorders (PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder)
  • Dissociative disorders
  • Other diagnoses related to trauma
  • The “comorbidity” issue
  • Proposed diagnostic changes in the DSM-V related to trauma

TRAUMA, DISSOCIATION, AND THE HYPERAROUSAL RESPONSE

• What the hyperarousal response means and how it works
• Dissociation and trauma
• Gender differences in response to trauma
• Fight, flight, and fright modes
  • What happens in each mode
  • Why youth can’t use coping skills when hyperaroused
  • How hyperarousal can be “addictive”

THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL BASIS FOR THE EFFECTS OF TRAUMA

• Overview of the brain (as it relates to trauma and hyperarousal)
• Brain functions relevant to trauma treatment
• Effects of trauma on the brain

TRAUMA-FOCUSED TREATMENT: OVERVIEW

• Understanding issues in the first phase of trauma treatment
  • The importance of education (of client, parents, teachers, and significant others)
  • Grounding, coping, and healthy endorphin-releasing techniques for the first phase
  • Helping the youth shift from a “survival brain” to a “learning brain”
  • When is the youth ready for the second phase?
• Applying second phase principles in youth
  • Adapting trauma processing techniques based on developmental level
  • When is the youth ready for the third phase?
• Applying the principles of reintegration (third phase) with youth
  • Family work and focusing on the future
  • When is the third phase completed?

DIGGING DEEPER INTO TREATMENT: AN INTEGRATED, EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH

• Current research evidence
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and its variants
  • Components of TF-CBT
  • Creating the Trauma Narrative
  • Cognitive processing in TF-CBT
• The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT)
  • Overview of NMT
  • Principles of NMT
  • NMT interventions for different developmental levels
• The ARC Model: Attachment, Regulation, & Competency
  • Key building blocks in the ARC model
  • The Attachment domain
  • The Self-regulation domain
  • The Competency domain
  • Trauma integration in the ARC model

MEDICATIONS FOR TRAUMA SYMPTOMS IN YOUTH

• Recent research
• Recommended medications for complex trauma and comorbid disorders in youth
• Concerns, issues, and limitations of medications for trauma

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PROVIDED IN THE COURSE MANUAL:

• Appendix A: General Principles of Trauma-Informed Intervention
• Appendix B: Assessment of Trauma and Developmental Level
  • Areas to cover and tools to use in a trauma assessment
  • Important, often overlooked, components of a trauma assessment
  • How to determine types of interventions to use