Trauma from an Individual Psychology Perspective

This special issue on trauma was organized by Paul Peluso and Kenneth McCurdy. The articles consist of the neurobiology and personality dynamics of trauma, first responders to public disaster, a conceptual model to address institutional and internalized racism, the challenges of introducing a trauma curriculum to counselors, and helping betrayed couples address the trauma of extramarital affairs.

The lead article, “Trauma, Neurobiology, and Personality Dynamics: A Primer” by Len Sperry, was selected as the first article in this issue because it addresses the trauma response in the context of lifestyle dynamics in conjunction with the neurological functioning of the brain. The author’s knowledge of both provides a splendid conceptual base related to the interplay of lifestyle and trauma and, in particular, posttraumatic stress (PTSD). Sperry’s ability to address the complexity of the interplay of personality and neurological functioning is impressive.

The next article, “The Private Traumas of First Responders” by Garner, Baker, and Hagelgans, brings awareness to the fact that firefighters, police, and other first responders are not immune to trauma or PTSD. The authors weave a convincing case with empirical findings, and a critical social variable, that first responders are impacted by trauma as much as the general population. The authors conclude with an Adlerian-based clinical case study of a firefighter with a diagnosis of PTSD.

Lemberger and Lemberger-Truelove, for the first time in the history of Adlerian psychology as far as we know, have developed a model to explain to clinicians the impact of racial trauma from an Individual Psychology perspective. In their article “Using the Transcultural Adlerian Conceptualization and Therapy (TACT) Model to Depict the Influence of Race-Based Trauma,” they describe the evolution of race-based trauma from a historical perspective and then describe their theoretical approach, called TACT. They describe how Individual Psychology can be used to explain institutional and internalized racism and the accompanying trauma. We found the article informative and useful for clinicians who may not be aware of these subtle biases in society.

The Van Asselt, Soli, and Berry article, “Crisis Fearlessness: A Call for Trauma Competencies in Counselor Education,” explores through an Adlerian lens the hesitancy of counselor educators to make adjustments regarding crisis-based curricula for counselors-in-training. To assess such hesitancies, 17 counselor educators participated in an experiential activity at an Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) conference. The authors conducted a survey to identify reasons for participant hesitancy. Among the responses were concerns that curricula participants were not taught as graduate students, changing standards and curricula expectations, and lack of perceived pleasure or joy for the content.

The concluding article provides ways of exploring the connection between traumatic stress and extramarital affairs. “A Trauma-based Physiological Approach: Helping Betrayed Partners Heal from Marital Infidelity” by Duba Sauerheber and Disque begins with a robust literature review of approaches for addressing marital infidelity. The authors present an applied counseling model with a number of techniques for use with betrayed partners during their healing processes, and encourage clinicians to further their studies of the various trauma-related references noted. Finally, the authors make a case for clinicians to explore how the trauma of an extramarital affair changes clients’ self-concepts and worldviews and how lifestyle influences their healing processes, noting that client experiences and healing processes will be as unique and varied as their lifestyles.