Taxonomy of trauma and trauma assessment.

A review of the theory of trauma as a special case of stress response theory, two different classifications/taxonomies of traumas emerge. Each taxonomy describes a different dimension of the traumatic event. The first taxonomy, areas of individual functioning, includes five types: Attachment trauma, autonomy or identity trauma, interdependence trauma, achievement or self-actualization trauma, and survival trauma. The second classification is based on experiential objective external criteria and includes two main categories: Factitious or trauma-like and real traumatic events. The first happens in one step transmission from one to one or more persons. The second get transmitted in multiple steps or cross-generationally. Traumas can get transmitted cross generationally in two venues: through family or collectively. Collective transmission of traumas happens in two contexts: historical and social structural. Direct traumas (person-made), on the other hand, is divided into two types: Simple (type I) and compl...