Rhetorical Situation:

• Writer: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

• Text/Subject: An article highlighting different types and signs of trauma, as well as treatments

• Audience: Anybody trying to inform themselves on traumatic stress

• Context: Mental health, Child Trauma, Tips for caregivers

  
  

  Summary:

  This is an article on Child Trauma written by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The article includes the types and signs of different child trauma and traumatic stress. The impacts of traumatic stress are highlighted in the article as well as key points for recovery. Some extra informational mentions in this article involve tips for caregivers, treatment options, and how to understand the body's alarm system. Overall, the SAMSHA dives deep into what traumatic events and disasters look like as well as how children can be the most vulnerable to these circumstances. They mention different influences from parents to teachers. Not only do they talk about children, but they talk about mental health as a whole because anybody can suffer through mental health problems. The reader is also informed on various possible solutions from suicide lifelines to SAMSHA facilities dedicated to studying and providing assistance to those in need.

• Writer: Sharon Martin

• Text/Subject: This article is on the importance of self-worth and the effects of traumatic stress

• Audience: Anyone interested on the meaning of self-worth

• Context: Self-worth, Trauma, Advice

  
  

  Summary:

  Self-worth is the biggest topic in this article. As kids it's easy to feel unworthy of things when we fail or can't find the answer to something. This feeling is common in adulthood as well. This article written by Sharon Martin does a great job at explaining why lack of love, support, and safety can negatively impact a child's self-worth. She also goes into detail about the meaning of self-worth and ways to develop it. The advice Sharon Martin gives in this article is not only geared towards children. She gives insight into self-worth as an adult which can help relate to the topic. Sharon Martin's article offers many different viewpoints to better understand trauma.

• Writer: Ted, Nadine Burke Harris

• Text/Subject: The video includes Nadine's discovery on the link between trauma and health issues in adulthood. Provides a lot of information on childhood trauma in a cause-and-effect format

• Audience: General U.S. viewers

• Context: Clinic studies, Trauma in children, Effects of trauma

  
  

  Summary:

  Nadine Burke Harris shares her journey on how she came to link childhood trauma and stress with harmful health effects in adulthood. She works in Bayview which is one of the poorest neighborhoods in San Francisco. Bayview was severely understaffed claiming "only one pediatrician for more than 10,000 kids"(Harris). Her clinic helped provide medical care to a lot of children in Bayview regardless of the ability to pay. With this came the realization that many of these kids were being sent with false diagnosis. Nadine discovers that many of the children in her clinic were suffering from severe trauma. With this discovery Nadine dives deep into the many different types of traumas a child can experience and their consequences. Nadine Burke Harris does a great job at proving how childhood trauma is one of the "greatest unaddressed public health threat"(Harris).

• Writer/Director: Todd Phillips

• Text/ Subject: This movie is about Arthur's descent into mental illness and madness after numerous years of suffered abuse.

• Audience: Anybody

• Context: Child Trauma, Systemic abuse, Violence, Delusion

  
  

  Summary:

  The JOKER movie shows a lot of the aftereffects of lifelong trauma. Of course, the Joker is a fictional character but, in this movie, he seems to be much more grounded in reality. Arthur who is the Joker in this movie, is constantly beat on emotionally and physically. His mother could not give him proper care as a child as she was very delusional. Her number of boyfriends would abuse Arthur in various ways and at one-point protective services even found him chained to a radiator, severely malnourished. On top of this, Arthur has a disorder which causes an uncontrollable laugh during intense emotion, which his mother came to the conclusion that he was just a happy boy and would hear him laughing during those years of abuse. As Arthur gets older, he loses his sense of identity and can't tell what is real or not. This creates the Joker character that unleashes violence onto the system that has failed him for so long.

• Writer: Linkin Park

• Text/Subject: A song about trying to find yourself in a storm of trauma that you blame yourself for

• Audience: Alternative rock listeners, Anyone else around the world

• Context: Trauma, Confusion, Uncertainty, Lost, Healing

  
  

  Summary:

  This is a song from an alternative rock band called Linkin Park. The name is "Somewhere I belong" which already shows a sort of loss of identity. Throughout the song they mention feeling emptiness which is one of the bigger points of the song. The singer states feelings of loneliness and empty feelings. Feeling alone is another major point in the song and is talked about many times. They transition into a longing for healing and finally feeling something real. These are all effects of the major underlying cause which is trauma. The overall point of the song is trying to feel like you belong in this world.

Harris, TED, Nadine Burke. “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime .” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk&t=47s. Accessed 12 May 2025.

Martin, Sharon. “How Childhood Trauma Damages Self-Worth and How to Heal It.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/conquering-codependency/202504/how-childhood-trauma-damages-self-worth-and-how-to-heal-it?msockid=05b0f45854766d1c29fae12255286ca5. Accessed 12 May 2025.

Park, Linkin. “Linkin Park-Somewhere I Belong.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEGieUB4b3c. Accessed 12 May 2025.

Phillips, Warner Bros., Todd. “JOKER.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5B8IE_WAa8&t=24s. Accessed 12 May 2025.

“Understanding Child Trauma - What Is Childhood Trauma?” SAMHSA, www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/trauma-violence/child-trauma. Accessed 12 May 2025.