Differentiating responses to trauma : the causal mechanisms

• Main Author: Besel, Lana Diane Shyla
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12396

Current trauma theories lack etiological knowledge. Specifically, examining the ignored cognitive and emotional processing differences within the trauma disorders reveals heterogeneity in the diagnoses. This paper differentiates the disorders using two main traits that determine how and for whom pathological traumatic responses occur. Coping capability is defined as the ability to separate emotion, cognition and perception, allowing cognitive processes to regulate intense emotions and perceptions. Regulation entails filtering and altering perceptions. This paper hypothesizes that there are individual differences in this information processing function. Reflective Processing is the name of this trait and determines the kind of traumatic response. Emotional Perception is the other central determining trait. It is a perception and is therefore subject to the same Information Processing modes. How this trait (or absence thereof) is managed or mismanaged shapes how other emotions are dealt with. Eleven types of Emotional Perception are proposed. In general, high Emotional Perception is a risk factor for pathological responding. Affect Intensity is a third minor trait in this model that exacerbates traumatic responses. The end result of this paper places Reflective Processing and Emotional Perception on a circumplex diagram. The far corners represent being extreme on both of these traits; these corners characterize personality disorders. Traumatic reactions are also placed on this circumplex. The center of the circumplex, where the lines intersect, represents a "normal" response to trauma, and represents individuals who are not personality disordered.