Traumatic stress

In order to understand the impacts in the post-disaster scenario of the 2017 El Niño events in the Piura region-Peru, we examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), food insecurity (FI), and social capital (SC) across three-time points in mothers in highly affected areas. In the Piura, Castilla, and Catacaos districts, we studied mothers combining mixed-method assessments at three (June-July 2017), eight and 12 months after the flooding. Each outcome was measured with the PTSD-Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C), the Household-Food-Insecurity-Access-Scale (HFIAS), the Adapted-Social-Capital-Assessment-Tool (SASCAT) surveys...

PHENOMENON: Learners in medical education are often exposed to content and situations that might be experienced as traumatic, which in turn has both professional and personal implications. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the literature on how trauma has been conceptualized and approached within medical education, and the implications thereof. APPROACH: A metanarrative approach was adopted following the RAMESES guidelines. Searches of 7 databases conducted in January 2022 with no date limitations yielded 7,280 articles, of which 50 were identified for inclusion through purposive and theoretical sampling...

IMPORTANCE: Somatic symptoms are a major concern among the pediatric population because of frequency and burden. The association between adverse childhood experiences and somatic symptoms in adults is well established but less is known concerning somatic symptoms in young people. OBJECTIVE: To explore the frequency and intensity of somatic symptoms in children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to December 31, 2021, at the Nice Pediatric Psychotrauma Referral Center in Nice, France...

IMPORTANCE: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the signature injury experienced by military service members and is associated with poor neuropsychiatric outcomes. Yet, there is a lack of reliable clinical tools for mTBI diagnosis and prognosis. OBJECTIVE: To examine the white matter microstructure and neuropsychiatric outcomes of service members with a remote history of mTBI (ie, mTBI that occurred over 2 years ago) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI)...

OBJECTIVE: Although prior research has shown that an array of distinct experiences related to crisis migration are associated with mental health, there is a pressing need for a theory-driven, multidimensional measure to assess the broad spectrum of crisis migration experiences. As such, the present study focused on developing and validating the Crisis Migration Experience Scale (CMES) with a sample of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. METHOD: Participants were adolescent (ages 12-17; n = 430) and adult migrants from Venezuela (ages 18+; n = 569)...

OBJECTIVE: This paper identifies the multiple adversities and trauma experienced by children who are detained after seeking asylum. A conceptual framework identifies the specific impact of immigration detention on the psychosocial development and mental health of refugee children that can inform policy and prevent additional migration-related trauma. METHOD: The paper draws on international evidence about the impact of childhood adversity, challenges faced by all displaced children, and the additional negative consequences of immigration detention...

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to explore the prevalence and determinants of common mental health disorders (CMHDs, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], depression, and anxiety) in Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Specifically, we examined how the associations between cultural adversities (discrimination, unemployment, and separation from family) and CMHDs are modified by levels of religiosity and sex. METHOD: Between March and June 2017, a cross-sectional study was conducted targeting adult Arab Syrian refugees residing in Beirut and Southern Lebanon...

OBJECTIVE: The novel concept of "the trauma therapists" journey' during their work with formerly tortured refugees and asylum seekers is introduced, mapped, and explicated for a convenience sample of 10 psychological therapists/practitioners who work in the United Kingdom. METHOD: This study operationalized semistructured interviews that were focused on therapists' experiences of providing trauma psychotherapy to sanctuary seekers who presented to a range of psychological therapy services...

BACKGROUND: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant risk factor with consistently demonstrated negative implications for satisfaction with adult romantic relationships. Yet, research on risk and protective factors in this context is scarce, particularly among well-functioning adults. OBJECTIVE: Addressing this gap, the present study focused on the potential mediating and moderating roles of mentalizing or reflective functioning, i.e., the capacity to understand oneself and others in terms of intentional mental states...

We respond to commentaries by Brown (2024) and Najavits (2024) on our original work titled "To Expose or Not to Expose: A Comprehensive Perspective on Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" (Rubenstein et al., 2024). Their work serves to augment the original argument that exposure is an important change factor in the amelioration of traumatic stress but should be viewed more broadly than traditional treatment paradigms suggest. We are grateful for this opportunity and aim to promote additional dialogue in the field about ways to improve upon existing models of trauma and its treatment...

Peer mentorship shows promise as a strategy to support veteran mental health. A community-academic partnership involving a veteran-led nonprofit organization and institutions of higher education evaluated a collaboratively developed peer mentor intervention. We assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), postdeployment experiences, social functioning, and psychological strengths at baseline, midpoint, and 12-week discharge using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory-2, Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale, and Values in Action Survey...

BACKGROUND: Cognitive models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) highlighted the effect of maladaptive cognitive processing in the development and maintenance of PTSD. PTSD is related to attentional bias (AB) toward threatening stimuli and greater attentional bias variability (ABV). Attentional bias modification (ABM) and attention control training (ACT) have demonstrated the effect of improving PTSD, but the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are controversial. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to evaluate the extent of evidence supporting the efficacy of ABM in the treatment of PTSD...

BACKGROUND: In 2018, the World Health Organization published a set of recommendations for further emphasis on the quality of intrapartum care to improve the childbirth experience. This study aimed to determine the effects of the WHO intrapartum care model on the childbirth experience, fear of childbirth, the quality of intrapartum care (primary outcomes), as well as post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, postpartum depression, the duration of childbirth stages, the frequency of vaginal childbirth, Apgar score less than 7, desire for subsequent childbearing, and exclusive breastfeeding in the 4 to 6 weeks postpartum period (secondary outcomes)...

Cognitive fusion occurs when people experience their thoughts as literally true and allow them to dictate behavior. Fusion has been shown to be associated with increased symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression; however, the association between change in cognitive fusion, PTSD, and depression symptoms has been relatively uninvestigated. Our study aims to examine the associations between PTSD, depression symptoms, and cognitive fusion in Canadian veterans from pre- to post-treatment. Clients ( N = 287) completed measures of PTSD symptom severity, depression symptom severity, and cognitive fusion at pre- and post-treatment...

BACKGROUND: Romantic relationship dissolutions (RRD) are associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Functional magnetic resonance imaging in RRD studies indicates overlapping neural activation similar to posttraumatic stress disorder. These studies combine real and hypothetical rejection, and lack contextual information and control groups exposed to non-RRD or DSM-5 defined traumatic events. AIM: We investigated blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation in the hippocampus, amygdala, and insula of participants with RRDs compared with other traumatic or non-trauma stressors...

The October 7th, 2023, terror attacks in Israel were characterized by a scope and magnitude not previously known to Israeli citizens. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emotional distress and use of addictive substances among Israeli adults, approximately one month following the attacks. PTSD was assessed with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5) and emotional distress was assessed with a brief version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25)...

Exposure therapy (ET) forms a vital part of effective psychotherapy for anxiety-related presentations including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is often underutilised in clinical practice. Using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), this systematic review synthesised existing literature on the determinants of ET implementation for anxiety-related presentations and examined differences across presentations and developmental subgroups. Fifty-two eligible studies were assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, with 389 results (99%) mapped onto the TDF...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health issue that has grave physical and mental health consequences for millions of women. The judicial system plays a critical role in responding to IPV principally through the criminal justice system, family law, and/or child welfare jurisdictions. However, victims/survivors who interact with the legal system report negative experiences. An under-researched area of scholarship is the degree to which judicial actors understand the mental health impacts of IPV on victims/survivors and how they apply that knowledge in practice...

Objectives. Molecular mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) development have been analyzed by evaluati-ng changes in the expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) as a potential biomarker of the disease and as one of the molecular aspects associated with the disease development. Methods. In our study, we used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to evaluate changes in the expression level of long non-coding RNA - Gomafu, NONMMUT033604.2, and NONMMUT064397.2 - in the hippocampus of mice that were subjected to an artificially induced middle single prolonged stress (mSPS) model of post-traumatic stress disorder...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some individuals to experience vicarious traumatization (VT), an adverse psychological reaction to those who are primarily traumatized, which may negatively impact one's mental health and well-being and has been demonstrated to vary with personal trauma history. The neural mechanism of VT and how past trauma history affects current VT remain largely unknown. This study aimed to identify neurobiological markers that track individual differences in VT and reveal the neural link between childhood cumulative trauma (CCT) and VT...