Trauma

Exam items lean on timing and safety. The classic discriminator is acute stress disorder (symptoms lasting 3 days to 1 month post-event) versus PTSD (symptoms persisting beyond 1 month) — read the timeline before you pick. When a survivor is acutely distressed, the priority answer is almost always to establish physical and emotional safety first, not to probe for details; pushing a client to recount the event prematurely is the re-traumatization trap the test wants you to avoid. Choose the option that gives the client control and choice (“Would you like to talk, or would you prefer I stay with you?”).

Distinguish trauma from its neighbors. Grief is the emotional response to a defined loss; coping names the strategies used to manage stress; resilience is the capacity to adapt to and recover from adversity. A common trap is treating a trauma response as ordinary grief and “letting time pass” — trauma calls for active screening and trust-building. Remember that trauma-informed care does not require knowing the trauma details: you assume any client may carry a history (a universal-precautions stance) and respond accordingly.