2.2 The three Es of trauma
The three Es of trauma is a framework (SAMHSA, 2014) which we can use to understand the impact of traumatic events on individuals.
Event
| The thing that happened. |
| The thing that did not happen but should have done. |
| How the thing caused or threatened to cause physical or psychological harm. |
Experience
| How the individual experienced the event. How they experienced the event determines the extent to which the event was traumatic. |
| Did they find it overwhelming or not? |
| Did they have social support? |
| Were they isolated or did they have a safe place to go to immediately afterwards? |
| Not everyone will experience events in the same way. What one person finds traumatic may not have the same impact on another. |
Effect
| Based on the event and how somebody experienced the situation, they may or may not have a traumatic response. For some the response manifests immediately following the event. For others it may take hours, days, weeks or months. |
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2.1 What is trauma?