Teaching With Trauma and PTSD: Navigating the Aftermath of Sexual Assault as a Graduate Student Instructor

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

While trauma does not necessitate disability, certain disabilities necessitate a history of trauma. As indicated in its title, PTSD is one of these. PTSD is “the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to one or more traumatic events” (APA, 2022, p. 305). The diagnostic criteria include intrusive symptoms (e.g., flashbacks, night terrors, and dissociation); avoidance of “stimuli associated with the traumatic event,” including objects, people, places, and memories; “negative alterations in cognition and mood” (e.g., amnesia surrounding the event; negative self-beliefs including self-blame and shame, and feelings of isolation); and changes in arousal and reactivity (e.g., irritability, risk-taking, difficulty concentrating, and self-destructive behaviors), all of which must be present for at least one month and cause “clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning” (APA, 2022, pp. 301-302).

While PTSD is medically diagnosed, those of us lacking the credentials to diagnose others might find it most conscientious simply to assume that anyone who has experienced sexual violence could very well be suffering from PTSD. As Critical Disability scholars argue, we should always assume that disability exists in our spaces (Goodley et al., 2019; Hoffman et al., 2020; Merlon & Sugden, 2023). On that note, we should also take for granted that any person we encounter may have experienced sexual violence. Statistically, we might assume, then, that our class of twenty students might include at least four with PTSD.

I must stress, as I approach the next sections, that PTSD is a disability. Oftentimes, when discussing mental health struggles (including trauma), we advocate self-care: While self-care is always important, no amount of exercise, mindfulness, or rest can assuage disability (Blum, 2018; Dolmage, 2017).