Relationships between Past Trauma Exposures and PTSD among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

This study examined child abuse and community violence exposure as potential risk factors in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). In a community sample of 51 primarily low-income women who had experienced IPV, childhood exposure to child abuse made a unique contribution to PTSD symptom severity from subsequent IPV. Community violence also accounted for variance in PTSD symptom severity, but in the opposite direction, with individuals exposed to community violence reporting lower levels of PTSD symptoms from IPV. These findings suggest the need for further research to identify which factors related to community violence exposure might inoculate individuals against the development of PTSD following IPV exposure.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist

Several studies have employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the latent structure of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL; Weathers, Litz, Herman, Huska, & Keane, 1993), a measure that assesses PTSD symptomatology. Findings have failed to support the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision [DSM–IV–TR]; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) PTSD model, consisting of reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, and arousal factors, and no consensus has emerged regarding the best fitting alternative model. Additionally, most studies have utilized homogeneous trauma samples. This study used CFA to examine the PCL factor structure in a sample with exposure to various traumatic events. Superior fit was demonstrated by a model specifying reexperiencing, avoidance, dysphoria, and arousal factors.     

Toward a Public Mental Health Approach for Survivors of Terrorism

Abstract

Although most people exposed to bioterrorism or mass casualties will be extremely distressed during the immediate aftermath, only a minority (approximately 30%) will develop clinically significant psychiatric disorders. From a public mental health perspective, the challenge is to provide both preventive programs for the entire population and early detection and intervention for those at greatest risk for PTSD or other post-traumatic psychiatric disorders. Both individual and soci-etal preventive and early intervention approaches are reviewed. Utilization of the media, especially television, is presented as an example of one of many potential community/societal public mental health approaches.     

Development of the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire

This study describes the development and psychometric properties of the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire (TAQ). Items were generated based on interviews with 72 ethnically diverse community participants exposed to a range of trauma types. From the interviews, more than 600 items that tapped beliefs, emotions, and behaviors were generated for 9 appraisal categories (e.g., fear, betrayal, shame). Based on expert feedback, 108 items were retained for initial testing in a sample of 714 undergraduate volunteers. Using a factor analytic strategy, we arrived at a 6-scale, 54-item solution. The reliability and validity of the new measure were evaluated in community (N = 119) and undergraduate (Ns = 139 and 79) samples. The measure demonstrated excellent reliability (test–retest and internal consistency) and validity (convergent, discriminant, and concurrent).     

The Severity of Childhood Abuse and Neglect in Relationship to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Female Sex Workers in the Netherlands

In this article, the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood is examined in a sample of 123 female indoor sex workers in the Netherlands. It was hypothesized that the severity of childhood abuse and neglect is associated with the severity of PTSD. In this study, a substantial number of sex workers had experienced abuse, neglect, or both during childhood. Furthermore, a substantial number suffered from PTSD. Results show significant differences between sex workers suffering from PTSD and sex workers not suffering from PTSD, in the extent to which they have experienced abuse or neglect. Logistic regression analysis shows emotional abuse contributes significantly to the prediction of PTSD. Our findings suggest that the high rate of PTSD among sex workers might be partially related to childhood experiences, indicating that a number of sex workers might be traumatized before entering sex work.     

Unrecognized Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as a Treatment Barrier for a Gang-Involved Juvenile Offender

This study examines the case of GH, an 18-year-old Latino male participating in an employment-based delinquency intervention for gang-affiliated youth. Although postintervention measures revealed that GH showed gains on key outcomes (i.e., delinquency, employment), he experienced sporadic treatment setbacks (e.g., work absenteeism, fighting) that disrupted his progress. A comprehensive psychological assessment suggested that his aggressive, illegal behavior and difficulty maintaining employment could have been influenced by previously undiagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Excerpts from counseling sessions illustrated how reactive aggression, hypervigilance, sleep disruptions, and emotional numbing could have interfered with treatment gains and ultimately contributed to GH's re-arrest. Implications for early, accurate identification of PTSD in delinquency interventions for gang youth are discussed.     

Emerging Trauma Therapies: Critical Analysis and Discussion of Three Novel Approaches

Trauma-related disorders and treatment have gained increasing attention in the last 3 decades, spurring the development of novel treatment approaches. Many of these are incorporated into clinical practice despite lacking a solid evidence base or unbiased analyses to facilitate interpretation of existing information. Although treatments might draw on elements from validated therapies, questions regarding the incremental efficacy of new approaches persist. Three novel therapies that might warrant further examination include energy psychology, yoga, and brainspotting. The emergence of novel, trauma-related therapies is examined, and the history, theory, practice, and evidence base of these 3 specific therapies are outlined. Directions for future work are discussed. Expositions such as this might serve as a helpful resource for clinicians seeking discernment regarding treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Un point sur la responsabilité civile du fait des prothèses

The evolutions of the medical liability depend on the walking (step) of the jurisprudence, and on that of the European law. Crossings renewed the reflection on the consequences of the protheses failures, and make paradoxically return to the contractual obligation.     

The effect of feature discriminability on the intertrial inhibition of focused attention

Identifying the shape of a colour oddball is faster when the distractor colour is viewed in the preceding target-absent trial and slower when the target colour is previewed, an intertrial effect known as the distractor previewing effect (DPE). We tested the effect of feature discriminability on the DPE. In Experiment 1, we determined the interitem discriminability of two colour pairs and two shape pairs. In Experiments 2 and 3, we measured DPEs with these set of target–distractor discriminability pairs. Our results showed that when the defining features allow for efficient parallel search, the a priori degree of interitem discriminability did not modulate the DPE. The results suggest the DPE does not arise as a strictly bottom-up modulation of saliency of the search-relevant features but reflects an attentional bias aimed at preventing attention from revisiting recently rejected “search features”. The underlying mechanism of this attentional bias is discussed.     

Transformations of the Sacred in Contemporary Chicana Culture

Abstract

Focusing on the transformation of the sacred icon La Virgen de Guadalupe into a secularized and sexualized modern woman in illustrations by Yolanda M. López and Ester Hernández, the rearticulation of ex-votos in Sandra Cisneros's short story ‘Little Miracles, Kept Promises’, and the development of a lesbian form of spirituality in Ana Castillo's Massacre of the Dreamers, this essay argues that it is the tradition of syncretism and cultural hybridization within the folk version of Mexican Catholicism and its concomitant propensity toward the deconstruction of binary oppositions (such as colonizer versus colonized; male versus female; body versus soul; sexuality versus spirituality) that forms the basis for many of the feminist revisions, reinterpretations, and transformations of Catholic figures, motifs and texts in contemporary Chicana art.