The Theory Of Trauma During The Diathesis Stress Model Of...

Trauma, like many other concepts in psychology, is a subjective experience to whoever faces it. A number of explanations exist for it, but one take on it is that which is proposed by Fairbairn, who defines a trauma experience as â€Å"one which serves to precipitate a psychopathological reaction through the activation of pre-existing, but hitherto latent, psychopathological factors† (Fairbairn, 1952). He proposes that a person can only process an experience as traumatic if they possess innate psychopathological characteristics that make them vulnerable towards it. His idea relates to the diathesis-stress model of having congenital characteristics interact with certain life experiences to produce psychopathology in a person. Another more modern definition depicts trauma as, â€Å"an overwhelming event that threatens the health, safety, and security of the individual and cannot be emotionally and cognitively processed† (Summers Barber, 2010). As clinicians, if one chooses to work with this definition, it is important to take both parts of it into consideration when assessing patients, because the concept of trauma has taken on a different meaning in societal terms. More often than not, people will consider any emotional experience they cannot seem to process after going through an experience as trauma. An example of this would be the loss of a loved one. While it may be a very challenging experience for some, grief for someone who has died is generally not considered a trauma under