The Development and Experience of Combat‐Related PTSD: A Demand for Neurofeedback as an Effective Form of Treatment

Veterans experience a considerable course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and because of several psychosocial issues, traditional interventions and traditional intervention settings are ineffective for this population. A new cutting‐edge approach, known as neurofeedback, trains clients to control and manipulate their central nervous system and ameliorate physiological symptoms of stress disorders. The authors delineate how neurofeedback can be an effective and innovative intervention for PTSD experienced by the military population.     

Time Perspective Therapy: A New Time-Based Metaphor Therapy for PTSD

Time perspective therapy (TPT) is a new time-based therapy that focuses on clients' perceptions of their past, present, and future. Based on Zimbardo's temporal theory and the utilization of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, the authors have developed this new narrative therapy approach for the purpose of treating clients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. The goal of TPT is to identify clients' six time perspective factors and then work with and balance these perspectives to promote a more positive future orientation, replace their traumatic past negativity, and thereby create a more responsive and healthier individual.     

Trauma and substance use: the role of defences and religious engagement

Substance use disorders commonly co-occur with posttraumatic stress disorder and are associated with greater impairment. There is some evidence to suggest that different coping strategies, including defence mechanisms and religious forms of coping, may buffer the relationship between trauma and SUDs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential moderating roles of defence mechanisms and religious coping on the already-established relationship between trauma symptoms and substance abuse. Data were gathered from a sample of college students (N?=?380). Trauma symptoms were associated with increased substance use and abuse. The use of immature defences was significantly associated with trauma and substance use. Increased substance abuse was also associated with higher rates of negative religious coping. Individuals who endorsed trauma symptoms were also more likely to use positive and negative religious coping. Defences and coping did not moderate the relationship between trauma and substance use.     

Relationship of posttraumatic growth to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression: A pilot study of Iraqi students

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) and psychopathology are common outcomes following exposure to adversity and trauma. We examined the relationship of PTG to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in a group of young Iraqi students with war trauma exposure. These young Iraqis had experienced an average of 13 different war‐related adversities. The prevalence of probable PTSD was 17.2% and probable depression 23.1%. PTSD was associated with higher and depression with lower PTG. In addition, the relationship between PTG and PTSD was stronger among males than females. Although PTSD and depression were relatively common, they were related to PTG in opposite directions.     

A new diagnosis of complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder,PTSD – a window of opportunity for the treatment of patients in the NHS?

The concept of complex trauma has been around for a long time and in 2018, it’s expected to become a new diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases eleventh revision, ICD-11, the World Health Organisation, WHO, manual used formally in the NHS. Psychiatric diagnosis often does not sit well with psychoanalysis, which is at least as interested in unconscious phantasy as it is in symptoms. But as psychodynamically-trained practitioners in the NHS we need to engage with ICD-11 and apply our own understanding to service design so that patients have access to treatment which works for them. The service where I work (a secondary mental health team in the London borough of Lewisham) has already been receiving referrals for ‘complex trauma’ for some time, despite its not being formally classified. Patients so described are most often those with a history of childhood sexual abuse, and refugees with a history of brutality and torture. Differential diagnosis includes personality disorder since many have difficulties with interpersonal issues. In this paper I want to discuss how we might understand the new diagnosis of complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, and its implications for treatment in the NHS.     

The relationships between family functioning and attachment orientations to post-traumatic stress symptoms among young adults who were evacuated from Gaza Strip settlements as adolescents

Background and Objectives: This study examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among young adults that were evicted from their residences in Gaza settlements (“Gush Katif”) as adolescents and actively participated in the resistance events. Furthermore, we examined the moderating role of exposure to forced relocation on the association between attachment orientations and family functioning and PTSD symptoms. Design: We conducted a correlative, cross-sectional study in 2013. Methods: Participants were Israeli evicted residents (ER group; N = 102), comparison groups of evicted nonresidents (ENR group; N = 27), and nonevicted nonresidents (NENR group; N = 53). All participants completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires. Results: The ER group reported a higher number of PTSD symptoms as compared to the comparison groups. However, ER participants did not differ from ENR and NENR participants in their perception of family functioning. Importantly, the group (ER vs. NENR) moderated the association between attachment-anxiety and PTSD symptoms and between family adaptability and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: Nine years after the forced relocation from Gaza settlements, young adults that were evicted from their residences as adolescents suffer from PTSD symptoms that are more related to the relocation itself than the stress entailed in the resistance events.     

Maternal Trauma and Children’s Functioning: The Role of Kinship Social Support

Although research has documented the detrimental effects of maternal trauma on child behavior (Lambert, Holzer, & Hasbun, 2014), the role of extended family support in potentially mitigating the effects of intergenerational transmission of trauma is not clearly understood. With a diverse community sample of 52 trauma-exposed mothers and their children between the ages of 7 and 12, we investigated relationships between kinship social support, maternal trauma exposure severity, maternal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, and child behavioral problems. Results showed that kinship social support was negatively related to maternal trauma exposure severity, maternal PTSD symptom severity, child internalizing behaviors, and child externalizing behaviors. Additionally, kinship social support moderated the relationship between maternal trauma exposure severity and child internalizing behaviors. These results have implications in the implementation of interventions aimed at supporting diverse families facing trauma that incorporate extended family networks.     

The Temporal Relations of PTSD Symptoms Among Treatment-Seeking Victims of Sexual Assault: A Longitudinal Study

This prospective study assessed the temporal relationships between the symptom clusters of PTSD in two nonprobability samples of treatment-seeking victims of sexual abuse: rape victims and adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Both groups were assessed at three time periods using self-report measures of PTSD symptomology. Findings from two cross-lagged panel analyses indicated weak temporal relationships between the symptom clusters of PTSD; however, avoidance and emotional numbing symptoms were found to exert the strongest cross-lagged effects. Avoidance and emotional numbing symptoms were also found to be the strongest predictor of subsequently meeting caseness for PTSD in both samples. Results suggest that there are minimal cross-lagged effects between the PTSD symptom clusters after three months from traumatic exposure.     

Clinical Application of the Couple Adaptation to Traumatic Stress (CATS) Model: A Pragmatic Framework for Working With Traumatized Couples

ABSTRACT

The authors attempt to apply knowledge of traumatization to clinical practice with couple dyads. Elaborating on the Couple Adaptation to Traumatic Stress (CATS) Model (Nelson Goff & Smith, 2005), the authors have worked to bridge the gap between a general understanding of trauma's impact on the couple relationship and couples' treatment. This article facilitates the application of the CATS Model to clinical work with couples impacted by trauma. Incorporating Herman's (1997) traumatic process with the original CATS Model, the authors created a more specific, clinically useful framework for clinicians. The goal of the current article is to provide clinicians with a pragmatic illustration articulating a clinical framework for understanding and treating posttraumaumitc symptoms and processes within the couple relationship. The main implication is that clinicians will be able to conduct effectively guided systemic therapy with distressed couples necessary to generate progress in the treatment of symptomatology and couple functioning of trauma survivors and their partners.