Impact of Trauma on the Well-Being of Women and Girls across the Lifespan

Trauma-informed care represents a crucial element to improving care and decreasing significant morbidities across the life span of women. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of health and service providers, trauma significantly impacts the health, mental health and senses of safety and well-being for considerable numbers of women and girls; one in six men experience sexual abuse or assault before the age of 18, while one in four women will endure the same traumas. The type of victimization, the victims' experience of it, and the consequences of it differ dramatically based on the victims' sex and gender making it necessary to address trauma from a sex and gender perspective. If left untreated, trauma-affected women and girls become vulnerable to other traumatic events, PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse problems and elevated rates of chronic disease, including, but not limited to heart disease and obesity at disparate rates. In response to the gravity of trauma's role in the lives of women and girls and growing interest of health service providers, we developed a wide modality of trainings that focus on increasing information available to and capacity of care providers to first, understand the prevalence and impact of trauma on women, and second, to treat all women and girls appropriately regardless of trauma history. We have found that in many cases, trauma-informed providers avoid re-traumatization and create more supportive environments for patients to begin the healing process.