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Background: Police officers are at considerable risk of developing posttraumatic symptoms because they frequently encounter violent or emotionally disturbing incidents. We investigate experiences with potentially traumatic events (PTE), traumatic exposure, and the prevalence of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD and subclinical PTSD in a sample of Belgian police officers. Methods: In total, 1,465 police officers from 15 Belgian Local Police zones participated in a web-based survey, consisting of three segments: evaluating experiences with a list of 29 PTE, assessing if any of these PTE accounted for traumatic exposure, and evaluating 1-month probable PTSD, complex PTSD and subclinical PTSD prevalence using the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ). Results: Police officers frequently experience a wide range of PTE. A large majority of 93.0% reports traumatic exposure. Assessment with ITQ shows a 1-month prevalence of 5.87% for probable PTSD and 1.50% for probable complex PTSD, while an additional 7.58% report subclinical PTSD. No demographic variables influenced PTSD prevalence. Cumulative PTE experiences in itself did not predict PTSD, while the characteristics of certain PTE did entail a higher prevalence of probable PTSD and subclinical PTSD. Discussion: This study is the first to evaluate experiences with PTE, traumatic exposure and 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD, complex PTSD, and subclinical PTSD in Belgian police officers. Police officers are frequently confronted with a broad variety of PTE, and a large majority reports traumatic exposure. The 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD is significantly higher compared to previous international research in the general population, but lower than in similar international research involving police officers. In this study, cumulative PTE experiences in itself did not reliably predict PTSD, while the characteristics of certain PTE did. Posttraumatic symptoms are an important mental health challenge in Belgian police. This study is the first to evaluate experiences with PTE, traumatic exposure and 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD, complex PTSD, and subclinical PTSD in Belgian police officers.Results show that police officers are frequently confronted with a broad variety of PTE, and a large majority reports traumatic exposure.The 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD is significantly higher compared to previous international research in the general population, but lower than in similar international research involving police officers.In this study, cumulative PTE experiences in itself did not reliably predict PTSD, while the characteristics of certain PTE did.Posttraumatic symptoms are an important mental health challenge in Belgian police. This study is the first to evaluate experiences with PTE, traumatic exposure and 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD, complex PTSD, and subclinical PTSD in Belgian police officers. Results show that police officers are frequently confronted with a broad variety of PTE, and a large majority reports traumatic exposure. The 1-month prevalence of probable PTSD is significantly higher compared to previous international research in the general population, but lower than in similar international research involving police officers. In this study, cumulative PTE experiences in itself did not reliably predict PTSD, while the characteristics of certain PTE did. Posttraumatic symptoms are an important mental health challenge in Belgian police.

Objective We hypothesized that, if childhood trauma is associated with schizotypal traits, schizotypal traits may mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and the earlier onset of panic disorder (PD). Methods A total of 86 patients (49 females, 37 males), with PD aged between 18 and 65 years, were evaluated using the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS), the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). Results The mean age was 38.7 +/- 12.8 years (range = 19-65 years). Total scores of schizotypal traits (r = -0.41, p

This essay discusses the relationship between film and psychological trauma from the perspective of the history of science. It examines how the psychological sciences were influenced by image technology, primarily after the two world wars. Taking a closer look at the development of film production and mental imagery experiments as cultural and scientific institutions, this essay examines the challenges psychologists began to face when the paradigm of the trauma film was established in the pursuit of positivist evidence informed by mechanical objectivity. Over the past century

Given the co-occurrence of substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder, existing SUD treatment programs are integrating the treatment of psychological trauma into their programmi...

Exposure to psychological trauma can cause disruptions in employment; however, program-level return to work (RTW) best practices for clients with trauma-related mental health conditions are limited...

A comprehensive understanding of psychological trauma in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) is relevant for nurses and other healthcare providers to provide better care for individuals and families confronting this issue. A concept analysis based on Walker and Avant was conducted to fully understand this concept and its impact on physical and mental health. This concept analysis demonstrates that psychological trauma in the IPV context is an intricate multi-faceted concept that can have a significant long-term effect on individuals who have experienced IPV. The concept's attributes, antecedents, and consequences identified in this concept analysis will contribute to guiding practice, research, education, and policy development aimed to address the trauma affecting individuals and families in the context of IPV.

Using qualitative netnography of a USA social media group with >6000 members, we show that nature tourism can provide psychological rescue and rehabilitation, at levels comparable to clinical counselling and chemotherapies, for women who have suffered trauma, abuse, injury and illness. Diagnosis, design, and duration of nature tourism psychotherapies deserve further testing, for potential application in post-pandemic mental health recovery worldwide.

The current study investigated experiences of mental health services with members of the LGBTQ+ community who have experienced trauma. Using survey questions participants identified multiple barrie...

In healthcare, it is not uncommon for neurodiagnostic technologists to provide care and testing for patients who are in restraints or in need of restraints. When properly used, restraints ensure patient safety and the safety of others while allowing the continuation of life saving tests and treatments. Oversight for restraint use is provided by outside agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission (TJC). Improper use of restraints can lead to serious sanctions by both organizations and can negatively impact patients, leaving them with emotional and psychological trauma. The process of restraint management such as ordering, implementing, or monitoring restrained patients is not within the scope of practice for neurodiagnostic technologists. Restraints should only be utilized as a last resort for the safety of the patient to receive proper care. This paper seeks to inform Technologists on what does and does not constitute a restraint, and the factors that should be considered before making the decision to request use of restraints in order to perform neurodiagnostic testing.

Background Perceived stress during pregnancy is associated with adverse obstetric outcomes. Antenatal perceived stress is still unaware and under-diagnosed during routine antenatal care. There has not yet been a study of prevalence and associated factors among pregnant women living in urban areas in Thailand. Understanding antenatal perceived stress is important to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Objective To identify the prevalence, associated factors, and predictive factors of perceived stress in pregnant women living in an urban area. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020 among pregnant women attending antenatal care at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. The participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire which included demographic data, obstetric data, serious life event data, and a Thai language version of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (T-PSS-10) to assess perceived stress symptoms. Results Of a total 403 pregnant women, the prevalence of perceived stress symptoms in antenatal pregnant women was 23.6%. Perceived stress symptoms were significantly associated with divorce (p=0.001), separation from spouse (p=0.005), physical or psychological trauma from family (p=0.005), marital conflict (p

This article attempts to delineate social pain or the pain of the social – a suffering that comes from human relations as a collective. I attempt to find the word, the signifier, that can transmit ...

Women are normally self-employed in businesses involving buying and selling of goods. Such businesses were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down. The researchers explored the impact the of COVID-19 lockdown on self-employed women. The researchers used a qualitative approach. Interviews were used to collect data. Forty participants took part in the study. The data was thematically analyzed. The researchers found that participants were affected by Inadequate food supplies, Hopelessness to revive business, Poor access to health services, Psychological trauma, Defaulting medications, and Challenges of keeping children indoors. There is need to provide social and economic support to self-employed women.

In considering the applicability of hypnosis to treating Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) we examine the relationship between trauma, hypnosis, and dissociation, the latter being a common response to traumatization that is particularly salient in C-PTSD. We then provide an overview of the nature of C-PTSD, which research is beginning to demonstrate is considerably more prevalent than the more circumscribed PTSD syndrome depicted in the DSM. Building on this foundation, we discuss the reasons why hypnotically structured treatment is particularly well suited for C-PTSD, explaining how each of the major aspects of this syndrome can be addressed within a hypnotic framework.

Clinical hypnosis has proven effective in the treatment of trauma, not just for adults but for children as well. Given the prevalence of children with trauma and the trauma-related dysregulation evident in school settings, promotion of emotional regulation skills and access to emotional management tools are necessary. Trauma-informed care is on the rise in both medical and academic settings. Some schools are even employing hypnotic-like methods such as meditation with substantial success to address symptoms of dysregulation. Given the suggestibility of children without formal inductions and the ease of which hypnotic-like interventions can be employed, this article will explore how the art of "being hypnotic" and the use of hypnotic language is, and can, be used in various settings, not to treat trauma, but to foster affect regulation, reduce observable distress, improve self-confidence, and promote resilience.

Although metanalytic evidence exists to support the long-term efficacy of hypnotic interventions in the treatment of trauma, assertions that hypnosis may induce trauma or exacerbate existing posttraumatic reactions through activating dissociative processes seem to persist in some circles. While multiple studies have established that hypnotic induction produces dissociative phenomena, what has not yet been clearly explicated is the degree to which varieties of dissociative phenomena differentially elicited by hypnotic induction tend to skew toward the pathological or nonpathological end of the continuum of dissociation. The authors of the current study explore the connection between hypnotic susceptibility and facets of dissociation, employing the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: A (HGSHS:A) and the State Scale of Dissociation (SSD). A significantly greater change in state dissociation was observed in their hypnosis condition as compared with a novel control condition (t (82) = 3.235

Resilience refers to a set of personal qualities and abilities that allow an individual to confront challenges, risks, or traumatic experiences in an integrated manner and to thrive in the face of significant adversities. This cross-sectional study explores resilience, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and family norms with disclosure of mental health problems (FNAD) in a sample of 182 Filipino American women (FAW). Participants completed survey measures of resilience, PTSD, and FNAD and open-ended questions about beliefs and reasons for (not) disclosing mental health problems outside the family. Previous research found that the rates of psychological trauma and depression among FAW are higher than those in other Asian ethnic groups, which makes it necessary to investigate the protective characteristic of resilience among FAW. According to our results, foreign-born FAW had a significantly lower PTSD and greater resilience as compared to their US-born counterparts. A significant negative relationship between PTSD and resilience was observed only among foreign-born FAW. We also found a conditional moderating effect of FNAD on the negative relationship between resilience and PTSD. The results of our qualitative analysis of the participants' responses to the open-ended questions of the survey showed that FAW's family norms of nondisclosure are related to the cultural value of "saving face," a salient cultural construct among Asian family members. Results suggest that protective properties of resilience against PTSD are influenced by cultural factors, such as FNAD. Taken together, our findings underscore the importance of considering the impact of collectivistic cultural values (e.g., FNAD) in future research on resilience among Asian Americans.

Despite risk for trauma, subsequent mental health concerns, and poor health outcomes, young Black/African American men (YBM) are less likely to receive mental health services than other racial/ethnic groups. Despite the growing literature on resilience, there is less information on relationships between resilience, risk behaviors, and use of mental health services. This study sought to examine resilience, trauma-related risk behaviors, and receipt of mental health services among a sample of YBM who experienced trauma. Focus groups and a brief survey were conducted with YBM (N = 55) who had been exposed to at least one traumatic event (e.g., witnessing violence, experienced serious injury or illness) and were recruited from urban community settings (e.g., colleges/universities, barbershops, churches). Participants were an average age of 23 years (SD = 3.9; range 18-30) and experienced an average of 2 to 3 traumatic events (SD = 2.2). Trauma exposure was a significant predictor of risk factors (β = .513, p < .01). However, resilience did not significantly moderate this relationship. Resilience also did not predict receipt of mental health services. Culturally relevant qualitative themes found to be related to resilience included maintaining resilience autonomously, preferred coping methods (e.g., friends, music), and habituating to adversity. This study has potential to inform the development of culturally tailored, relevant interventions to promote engagement in mental health services among YBM who’ve experienced trauma.

The use of seclusion is controversial and has been deemed an encroachment on human rights and dignity which can cause psychological trauma and physical injury to patients in the psychiatric setting. This quality improvement project used a quasi-experimental design to implement the TeamSTEPPS educational program, an evidenced-based program to inform nurses about verbal de-escalation to reduce patient aggressive behavior that can lead to patient seclusion. The targeted patient population included all patients admitted 2 months prior to initiation of Team STEPPS (n = 388) and 2 months following completion of the education modules (n = 342). After the implementation of the educational program there was a statistically significant difference in the rate of charting aggressive behavior (p = 0.024). The pre rate was 17.3%, and the post rate was 11.4%. While there was not a statistically significant difference in the rate of seclusion events, (p = 0.349) there was a clinically significant reduction. The pre rate was 5.9%, and the post rate was 4.4%. The results of this study support the importance of educating psychiatric nurses on verbal-de-escalation to reduce patients placed in seclusion and decrease patients' aggressive behavior in the psychiatric settings.

Promoting health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a primary goal of lung cancer treatment. Trauma history and distress can negatively impact HRQOL.A cross-sectional design examined the associations of trauma history, cancer-specific distress, and HRQOL.Sixty lung cancer patients completed questionnaires on trauma history including the number and severity of traumatic events experienced. Cancer-specific distress, HRQOL, and depression were also reported.As hypothesized, trauma history and cancer-specific distress were negatively associated with HRQOL (allRetrospectively-reported trauma was linked with poorer HRQOL in lung cancer patients.Interventions aimed at improving lung cancer patients' HRQOL should consider the possible role of trauma history (both frequency and distress).

Objective: This case series describes and illustrates the effective use of a trauma-informed approach, GLAPE, to provide drug screens for individuals in substance use treatment programs. The GLAPE approach recognizes that individuals who have experienced traumatic events and are recovering from substance use difficulties may also face unique challenges when engaging in mental health treatment. The nature of drug screening procedures in practice may feel invasive and triggering for clients with trauma histories. Finding ways to decrease barriers to treatment and increase engagement and retention are important components of effective substance use treatment. Methods: This case series involved three veteran cisgender men with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and co-occurring substance use conditions in an outpatient addiction recovery program in a Veterans' hospital. The cases illustrate how recovery can be aided by trauma-informed approaches for urine drug screens. The treatment team evaluated various monitoring modalities and collaborated with each client to form a treatment plan that implemented the GLAPE approach to bolster their recovery. The GLAPE approach includes five components: Giving detailed instructions prior to the urine screen procedure, listening to and eliciting questions and concerns of the client, articulating options and exhibiting flexibility in the procedure to accommodate the needs of the individual client, giving permission to the client to voice concerns at any point during the procedure, and evaluating the process in collaboration with the client, including what could be improved for next time. Results: Use of the GLAPE approach effectively helped to engage and retain military veterans with co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder within a trauma informed outpatient program. Preliminary evidence from three cases provides that this approach may be useful for use in substance use treatment with clients who have trauma histories. Conclusions: Given widespread use of observed urine drug screens in substance use treatment programs, and prominent co-occurrence of substance use disorder and PTSD, it is essential that staff approach this procedure in a trauma-informed way. This case series illustrates an approach that can improve client experience, aid clients in treatment engagement, and assist staff in the provision of effective care.

Dear Editor,Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, who are now quite elderly, make up a small and curious cohort of older trauma victims, whose stories of resiliency often challenge the tenets of trauma ...

The refugee has become part of the scholarly discourse of schooling, largely centring considerations of psychological trauma that refugee children may have experienced. However, the role that schoo...

Objective: Dissociation and trauma have a well-documented relationship, and dissociation is assumed to result from trauma exposure. If trauma generates dissociative psychopathology, it should be observed after exposure to disaster and be associated with disaster-related psychopathology. Few studies have focused specifically on dissociation as an outcome of disaster trauma. This study examined dissociation and its association with disaster-related psychopathology in survivors of five different disasters. Methods: In the first 6 postdisaster months, directly exposed survivors (N = 216) of mass shootings, floods, or a firestorm completed structured diagnostic interviews providing lifetime predisaster and postdisaster prevalent/incident psychiatric diagnoses and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) 1-3 years after baseline. Results: DES scores were very low; only 1% met the DES Taxon signifying pathological dissociation. In multivariate models including predisaster lifetime major depression, lifetime panic disorder, lifetime generalized anxiety disorder, and lifetime alcohol use disorder; disaster-related PTSD; and number of incident somatoform symptoms as independent covariates, predisaster lifetime major depression and alcohol use disorder were independently associated with both general (DES score) and pathological (DES Taxon) dissociation, and postdisaster incident somatization symptoms were also associated with general dissociation, but postdisaster psychopathology including disaster-related PTSD was not associated with general or pathological dissociation. Conclusions: Neither general nor pathological dissociation was independently associated with disaster-related PTSD or other incident psychopathology. The only psychiatric disorders associated with dissociation were present before the disasters. Coupled with the low dissociation rates, these findings indicate that dissociation does not appear to be a mental health outcome of disaster trauma.

I write this editorial from my experience as a 54-year-old psychologist who has studied psychological trauma and dissociation from many perspectives, ranging from research on neurobiology and memor...

Objectives: Individuals with psychotic symptoms presenting to emergency psychiatry often have comorbid symptoms, such as substance misuse, depression, and anxiety. Many will also have symptoms link...

Trumbull joins Kenneth Wright and others in emphasizing an important dynamic of shame: that it is based on interpersonal traumatization. Shame results from “an unacceptable view of oneself mediated...

To date, a plethora of scientific studies have examined the relationship between psychological trauma or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders (EDs). However, the literature thu...

Shame is an unusual emotion in the sense that it has been subject to many understandings. For Freud (1957), shame was an emotion that resulted when we fall short of our ideal. Thus, it helps us reo...

Background: Increasing evidence points to an association between adverse life experiences and suicide risk, which include childhood trauma and maltreatment as well as recent stressful life events. ...

Background: Childhood adversity has been suggested, but not yet empirically examined, as a factor in sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) in childhood.Objective: This study was an examination of ...

This study applied a trauma-informed care (TIC) framework to explore transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) adults' experiences with mental health and community supports. Data were drawn from the qualitative component of a more extensive mixed-methods study that aimed to assess TGE individuals' support needs. Participants (

Female genital mutilation or circumcision (FGM/C) is a perilous social and cultural practice that affects the physical, mental, and psychological health of affected women. It is widespread around the world, affecting 200 million women and girls. This study aimed to explore the relation of FGM/C to mental and physical conditions in Somali refugees displaced in a low-resource setting, applying the concept of poly-victimization to reveal multifaceted trauma sequelae. Data for this cross-sectional study with 143 female Somali youth living in Eastleigh, Kenya were collected between April and May in 2013. FGM/C was strongly associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Logistic regression analysis revealed that separation from a parent and poly-victimization experiences were significantly associated with FGM/C experience. The results also showed that FGM/C and other traumas did not occur singly but were indicative of cumulative adversities, especially for women who were socially vulnerable and marginalized. The results of this study highlight the practice of FGM/C in the context of other adverse living conditions of refugees and the importance of attending to other co-occurring risk factors that prevail with FGM/C practice in the ecological system of refugee forced migration.

This paper explores the impact of trauma on the capacity for representation. Profound trauma hobble the mind's ability to represent (give meaning to) emotional experience, which results in a diminished capacity for thinking, the breakdown of symbol formation and the emergence of concrete modes of cognition. The author begins with Freud's (1920) views on the nature of trauma, in particular his notion of a

In his early writings, Freud thought of trauma in two very different ways. The term could refer to any experience that is subjectively unbearable, or, as epitomized by the seduction hypothesis, it could refer to something that was done to one person by another. In today's psychoanalytic climate - and in the broader culture as well - the second way of conceptualizing trauma dominates our discourse, replacing the elegant ambiguity of Freud's early thinking. In this paper I explore the clinical implications of this largely implicit shift in meaning, considering what may have been lost in the process.

In 1938, when discussing disavowal, Freud said: “This behaviour strikes us forcibly as being a turning away from reality – a procedure that we should prefer to reserve for psychosis.” (auth...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Anxiety sensitivity (AS), as measured by the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), has consistently been studied as a trait-level predictor of a variety of emotional and physical health conditions, including premenstrual symptoms. The menstrual cycle influences symptom expression and stress reactivity among anxiety and stress-related disorders. However, research has yet to directly evaluate the stability of AS across the various phases of the menstrual cycle, particularly in clinical populations with high levels of AS and with documented menstrual cycle differences in symptoms such as women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DESIGN AND METHODS: The current study examined whether AS fluctuates as a function of menstrual cycle phase among a community sample of trauma-exposed women (N = 48) with and without PTSD. Participants completed the ASI, including subscales assessing sensitivity to physical, cognitive, and social symptoms of anxiety, during early follicular and midluteal menstrual cycle phases. RESULTS: Results revealed that ASI scores remained relatively stable across the different phases of the menstrual cycle assessed; evidence for stability was particularly strong for the subscale assessing sensitivity to physical symptoms of anxiety. CONCLUSION: This study provides additional support for the conceptualization of AS as a stable, trait-like, cognitive risk factor.

Bibliotherapy, the use of storytelling as part of the healing process, has been successfully incorporated into clinical practice for a variety of indications including psychological trauma. This therapeutic modality, which incorporates mindful meditation, non-threatening use of metaphor, and autonomic regulation, can help children and adults alike, who are willing to engage in a story. Yet, bibliotherapy has not been widely adapted as a routine part of the therapeutic toolbox in the context of sufferers of childhood sexual abuse. Here, we review current practices regarding the adjunctive use of bibliotherapy for victims of child sexual abuse, touch upon the theoretical basis of bibliotherapy, and lay out a number of readily-useable strategies for implementing bibliotherapy in one's practice.

Given the human costs of psychological trauma, social workers should be well versed in trauma-informed care (TIC). This framework helps guide the efforts of systems, organizations, and practitioner...

A growing body of literature has begun to furnish information on the prevalence of child abuse in India. The irony is that the perpetrator is often well known to the child and often intra-familial....

The lack of a precise and reliable definition of a concept has an impact on how well we can use it. The present study is an evolutionary concept analysis of psychological trauma. Review of all the ...

Background: Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked with numerous adverse health conditions, but it is unclear if trauma exposure and PTSD are associated with infer...

Objective: Ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs) experience prolonged distress that in some cases may influence their cellular aging (telomere length). The current research examines whether attachment orie...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate a network model of risk and resilience factors of suicidal ideation among veterans. METHODS: Two network models of suicidal ideation among OIF/OEF/OND veterans (N = 276) incorporated key disorders, traumatic stress, and resilience constructs to contextualize suicidal ideation. RESULTS: Childhood trauma was positively connected with suicidal ideation and harassment and inversely connected with social support and distress tolerance. This exemplifies long-lasting associations between childhood trauma and re-victimization, emotion regulation, and ability to form supportive social relationships. A subsequent model including lower-order facets indicated that combat trauma was predominantly associated with PTSD-intrusion symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of addressing both risk and resilience to reduce suicide risk among veterans and increases understanding of factors that contribute to suicidal ideation.

There are a multitude of behaviors that child sexual abusers use to 'groom' children into becoming vulnerable to abuse. In this study of 277 adult survivors of child sexual abuse, participants advised the many ways they were groomed into being abused by up to three perpetrators. The effects of three categories of grooming (Verbal Coercion, Grooming that used Drugs/Alcohol, and Threatening/Violent Grooming) were examined for their effects on trauma symptom severity. Using Linear Regressions, each grooming category had a significant predictive effect on trauma symptom severity. Multiple Linear Regressions revealed that for most trauma symptoms, Threatening/Violent Grooming was a significant predictor of trauma symptom severity, even when other more well-known variables were controlled for (including age at onset of abuse, relationship to perpetrator, and severity of abuse), with a notable exception of verbal coercion as a significant predictor of sexual problems in adulthood (i.e. not satisfied, low drive, overactivity, confusion, bad thoughts or feelings).

OBJECTIVE: Incarcerated individuals have high rates of trauma exposure. IPT reduces posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in non-incarcerated adults, but has not been examined in prison populations. Moreover, little is known about the mechanisms through which IPT reduces PTSD symptoms. The current study investigated the direct and indirect effects of IPT on PTSD symptoms. We hypothesized that IPT would decrease PTSD symptoms by enhancing social support and decreasing loneliness (theorized IPT mechanisms). METHOD: A sub-sample of trauma-exposed participants (n = 168) were drawn from a larger randomized trial (n = 181) of IPT for major depressive disorder among prisoners. We examined a series of mediation models using non-parametric bootstrapping procedures to evaluate the indirect effect of IPT on PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Contrary to hypotheses, the relation between IPT and PTSD symptoms was significantly mediated through improvements in hopelessness and depressive symptoms (mechanisms of cognitive behavioral interventions), rather than through social support and loneliness. Increased social support and decreased loneliness were associated with decreased PTSD symptoms, but IPT did not predict changes in social support or loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: IPT may reduce PTSD symptoms in depressed prisoners by reducing hopelessness and depression. (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01685294)

This study investigates the association of psychological health with grief intensity and coping style among family members and friends of terror victims. The data was collected from 164 bereaved individuals, on average, 18 months after the bombings occurred. The results demonstrated the significant role of problem-focused social support, and religious coping in dealing with grief intensity and contributing to the psychological health. The findings may be of considerable importance in therapeutic situations by providing direction for coping with both the effects of traumatic event and a traumatic loss, and for maintaining emotional stability through reworking relationships with the deceased.

Purpose Childhood trauma in an important public health concern, and there is a need for brief and easily administered assessment tools. The Early Trauma Inventory (ETI) is one such instrument. The aim of this paper is to test the psychometric properties of the Swedish translation of the short, self-rated version (ETISR-SF), and to further validate the instrument. Materials and methods In this cross-sectional study, 243 psychiatric patients from an open care unit in Sweden and 56 controls were recruited. Participants were interviewed and thereafter completed the ETISR-SF. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed and goodness-of-fit was determined. Intra Class Correlation (ICC) was used to calculate test-retest reliability. Discriminant validity between groups was gauged using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Results Cronbach's alpha varied between 0.55 and 0.76, with higher values in clinical samples than in controls. Of the four domains, general trauma showed a lower alpha than the other domains. The CFA confirmed the four-factor model previously seen and showed good to acceptable fit. The ICC value was 0.93, indicating good test-retest reliability. According to the Mann-Whitney U-test, the non-clinical sample differed significantly from the clinical sample, as did those with PTSD or borderline diagnosis from those without these diagnoses. Conclusions The Swedish translation of the ETISR-SF was found to have similar psychometric properties as both the original version and translations. ETISR-SF scores could also distinguish between different diagnostic groups associated with various degrees of trauma, which supports its discriminant validity.

The aim of this article is to present a research-based rationale for NETfacts, a newly developed integrated approach at the individual and the community level in order to mitigate the mental and social sequelae of war and crisis. To this end, we provide a selective review of relevant literature from neuroscience, clinical psychology, and social science. In psychotraumatology, individual avoidance describes the effort to prevent exposure to trauma reminders. Among patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this becomes pathological, exacerbating distress and preventing recovery. This silence resonates in traumatized communities and consequently taboo builds – ultimately to the advantage of the perpetrators. The resulting collective avoidance leads to a fragmented collective memory about trauma or human rights violations in the community so that a shared account of the group’s history becomes impossible. The deficient collective memory promotes ambiguous truths and anxiety, enabling a reactive construction of safety based on selective information that leads to an endorsement of extreme opinions. Ongoing insecurity, violence and crime lead to increasing anxiety and fear. The self-interest of the perpetrators and the abnormal behaviour of survivors leads to an escalation in stigma and social exclusion resulting in the prevention or limitation of community exposure to traumatic material, i.e., to reduce tension and protect the construction of safety. The exposure to and recognition of traumatic facts subject to avoidance is key to a coherent collective memory and sense of communion, and to prevent further cycles of violence. The NETfacts health system combines individual and community-based intervention to treat the structure of memory at both the individual and collective levels. Abbreviations: NET: narrative exposure therapy; FORNET: narrative exposure therapy for forensic offender rehabilitation; NETfacts: facts derived from narrative exposure therapy, HIGHLIGHTS The article provides selected neuroscientific, clinical, and social science research to introduce the theoretical rationale of NETfacts; a newly developed integrated approach at the individual and the community level to mitigate the mental and social sequelae of crisis.