Trauma-informed approaches and frameworks for regulating the self

Stewart, Hilary (2025) Trauma-informed approaches and frameworks for regulating the self. In: UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been positioned as a ‘hidden epidemic’ and public health issue with significant and ‘unsustainable’ economic and health burdens (Lanius et al., 2010). Unsurprisingly, reducing ACEs has been promoted as having the potential to improve a wide range of outcomes, with trauma-informed approaches capturing international interest and enthusiasm across services seeking to address the negative impacts of trauma/ACEs. Advocacy campaigns suggest that the public is ‘hungry’ for ACE-awareness (ACE-Aware Scotland, 2018; Davidson and Carlin, 2019), which is often promoted through the neutral guise of neurosciences and veiled in languages suggestive of ‘care’. From schools, to healthcare, social work & support services, the criminal justice system, local authorities and social media, the psychosocial lens of trauma has become a dominant framework for understanding suffering and struggle. Theoretically, trauma-informed frameworks ought to improve service accessibility for potentially vulnerable clients. Yet in practice, framings of trauma and proposed solutions such as ‘resilience-building’ and ‘emotional regulation’ perpetuate harmful representations of social problems and their management. This paper considers how trauma is conceptualised as a problem of the self, to be regulated and rationalised through affective techniques (e.g. emotional coaching and mindfulness). ACE-Aware Scotland, 2018.The Vision. [https://aceawarescotland.com/ace-aware-2018/2018-vision/] Davidson, E. and Carlin, E., 2019. ‘Steeling’young people: Resilience and youth policy in Scotland. Social policy and society, 18(3), pp.479-489. Lanius, R.A., Vermetten, E. and Pain, C., 2010. The impact of early life trauma on health and disease: The hidden epidemic. Cambridge University Press.