Adult Psychological Trauma: Assessment and Treatment

3 credits

Required of Clinical Social Work students in the Mental Health Field-of-Practice; elective for others. An advanced clinical course focusing on adults exposed to acute or chronic psychological trauma. Theoretical constructs stress an interactive approach: person, environment, situation. Emphasis is on the interconnections of intrapsychic, interpersonal, cognitive, and behavioral sequelae to catastrophic life events, with attention to socio-economic and cultural factors which influence an individual's differential response to trauma. Various methods are evaluated with the goal of multi-model treatment integration. Clinical presentations on specialized populations (e.g., combat veterans, victims of abusive violence, traumatic loss, disasters, people with AIDS, and the homeless) are used to integrate theory, research designs and strategies, and practice skills.