In every class and clinical setting, they always say “mental health nursing is everywhere”. Understanding emotional responses, especially that to trauma, can help define you as a nurse. When someone has experienced trauma, it can control their life. An individual can become paranoid, anxious, or socially isolate themselves. Psychological stress also can be seen in physical symptoms. Physical symptoms could look like fatigue, insomnia, weight loss/gain, or even low immunity (getting sick). As health care providers we typically are focused on treating the physical symptom. By betting understanding trauma and its physiological effects, we can better treat our patients. Trauma can also affect someone spiritually. They could find themselves questioning their faith, wondering why them. Others might find comfort in religion and find themselves being more spiritual. Trauma can also hinder friendships and relationships. Someone might feel like they aren’t being understood and further isolate themselves. Family and friends can also feel overwhelmed and not know how to deal with the situation. Trauma affects all aspects of our lives and can occur at any time. 

Trauma that occurs during one’s childhood can be categorized as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Similarly, to other trauma, people who have ACEs have psychological, phycological, spiritual, and social difficulties. The stress of trauma during the developmental period can have negative neurological effects. Those with ACEs more frequently participate in risky behaviors such as heavy drinking. It can also increase one’s chance of developing depression, diabetes, asthma, and cancer (Adverse Childhood Experiences). By learning how to use trauma informed care in my practice I can better provide for my patients. How I behave and what I say can determine how much a patient feels comfortable sharing things with me. There won’t be a special device that can tell me who and who hasn’t experienced trauma in their life. I will have to learn how to convey trauma informed care to build between relationship with patients and create positive healthcare outcomes. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). (2019, November 05). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aces/index.html