Posttraumatic stress disorder and trauma-informed care

Abstract Correctional settings have a high prevalence of childhood trauma among both men and women. Early childhood trauma elevates the risk for complex future psychopathology (substance use, suicide attempts, affective dysregulation, recurrent adult victimization, somatization) and higher service utilization. Increased comorbidity among incarcerated individuals increases the risk of poorer life outcomes and warrants treatment, particularly for those with trauma symptomatology. Trauma-based therapeutic interventions exist and have been found effective for men and women. This chapter presents a blueprint for action. Correctional systems should be incentivized to adopt recovery-oriented systems of trauma-informed care as part of their behavioral health mission. Trauma recovery efforts should follow the path of substance use disorder recovery by seeking dedicated funding to build and sustain a cost-effective tiered system of care that is scaled to the concentration of trauma within the incarcerated population. Adopting and implementing economically informed principles to guide the production and delivery of trauma-informed services is a value proposition consistent with the behavioral health mission of correctional systems and their legal obligations to the welfare of the individual and society.