The cognitive model of trauma posits that affected people cannot process or rationalize the trauma that precipitated the disorder. They continue to experience the stress and attempts to avoid experiencing it by avoidant techniques. Consistent with their partial ability to cope cognitively with the event, persons experience alternating periods of acknowledging and blocking the vent. The attempt of the brain to process the massive amount of information provoked by the trauma is thought to be responsible for these alternating periods.
The behavioural model of trauma emphasizes two phases in its development. First, the trauma (the unconditioned stimulus) that produces a fear response is paired, through classical