ACEs & Trauma-Informed Anger Work Flashcards
7 cards from real CART practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 ACEs & Trauma-Informed Anger Work flashcards as text
Which neurological structure is most directly responsible for the hyperreactive anger response seen in clients with high ACE scores?
Answer: Amygdala
The amygdala acts as the brain's threat detector and becomes hyperactivated in trauma survivors, triggering disproportionate anger responses.
A trauma-informed anger therapist notices a client's anger escalates sharply when a coworker raises their voice. This is best described as:
Answer: A trauma trigger response
A trauma trigger response occurs when a current stimulus activates the nervous system's memory of past trauma, producing outsized emotional reactions.
The ACE Study originally identified how many categories of adverse childhood experiences?
Answer: 10
The original CDC-Kaiser ACE Study identified 10 categories of adverse childhood experiences across abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction.
In trauma-informed anger work, 'window of tolerance' refers to:
Answer: The optimal arousal zone where productive therapy can occur
The window of tolerance is the zone of arousal in which a person can process information effectively without being overwhelmed or shutting down.
Which type of ACE has been shown to have the strongest correlation with externalized anger problems in adulthood?
Answer: Physical abuse
Childhood physical abuse is most directly correlated with externalized aggression and anger dysregulation in adulthood due to learned behavioral modeling and trauma encoding.
A CART practitioner using a trauma-informed lens would AVOID which of the following with a high-ACE client early in treatment?
Answer: Deep trauma processing before stabilization
Trauma-informed care follows a phase model: safety and stabilization must precede trauma processing to prevent retraumatization and destabilization.
Which concept describes how high ACE scores can alter gene expression and be transmitted to offspring?
Answer: Epigenetic inheritance
Epigenetic inheritance refers to trauma-induced changes in gene expression that can be passed to future generations without altering the DNA sequence itself.