Finding a Secret Garden in Trauma Research

Summary

This article briefly summarizes the diversity in perspectives and methodologies captured in the current volume. The authors discuss diversity in the context of the 1998 Meeting on Trauma and Cognitive Science, and the future of traumatic stress studies. In addition, future directions for research and collaborative approaches are discussed.     

A Controlled Study of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for Boys with Conduct Problem

Summary

We suggest that trauma contributes to the development and persistence of conduct problems, and should be addressed. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) was selected as a promising trauma treatment. Twenty-nine boys with conduct problems in residential or day treatment were randomized into standard care or standard care plus 3 trauma-focused EMDR sessions. The EMDR group showed large and significant reduction of memory-related distress, as well as trends towards reduction of post-traumatic symptoms. The EMDR group also showed large and significant reduction ofproblem behaviors by 2-month follow-up, whereas the control group showed only slight improvement. These findings provide support for EMDR's use as a trauma treatment for boys ages 10-16, as well as support for the hypothesis that effective trauma treatment can lead to reduced conduct problems in this population.     

Sharing Knowledge and Shared Care

Summary

This concluding article presents the main themes that emerged from this volume within a multidimensional, multidisciplinary integrative framework conceptualizing the consequences of the trauma of terrorism and informing optimal prevention and intervention methods. It reviews short- and long-term findings of the effects of terrorism on adults, children, families, communities, and societies and makes numerous research recommendations. Viewing terrorism as psychological warfare against the community, it advances community-based, culturally congruent interventions, with a public mental health approach, in an ongoing, integrated network of services promoting community and individual resilience, specialized training, international collaboration, and continued dialogue concerning the role of the media.     

An Ecological Community-Based Approach for Dealing with Traumatic Stress

Abstract

This article presents our ecological approach toward building community resilience in the aftermath of a traumatic event and its application in the case of a terror attack on a Kibbutz. It delineates the various principles guiding our framework, outlines the phases of our community intervention, describes the intervention processes, and addresses some dilemmas relevant for such interventions.     

Increasing Couple Intimacy Using Virginia Satir's Temperature Reading

SUMMARY

This article describes the process of using Virginia Satir's Temperature Reading, a communication tool, to increase intimacy with couples. It presents a rationale and theory for using a daiiy couple Temperature Reading to develop communication skills for learning how to share intimately in relationships. Temperature Reading provides a safe environment where each member of the couple can learn to share personal information and can practice listening to the other in a supportive and cooperative manner. Therapists and couples alike can utilize this process as described here.     

Journeys in the labyrinth: Some difficulties in the psychotherapy of a severely traumatized adolescent

This paper explores the long-term sequelae of chronic early trauma as expressed by an adolescent in intensive psychotherapy. In particular, attention is given to the ways in which intolerable early experience may block subsequent identificatory ego growth by means of a radical defensive detachment from any potential source of help. Healthy maturation is replaced by an elaborate structure of defences aimed at obliterating awareness of unfulfilled attachment needs and providing a constantly available inner sanctum filled with exciting but profoundly unsatisfying sadomasochistic distractions. The technical importance of careful attention to the therapist's countertransference experiences is underlined. It is suggested that the presence of hatred in this area may represent one of the few undistorted communications from the patient, implying hatred of torture and cruelty. As such, when carefully metabolized by the psychotherapist, it may herald the recovery of hope and serve to protect hidden, bullied aspects of the patient's self which are still on the side of life and development.     

Meaning making,adversity, and regulatory flexibility

Despite the widely accepted belief that meaning making is essential for mental health following adversity, the available research continues to provide mixed findings: meaning making is sometimes evident, sometimes not, and more frequently than we would expect associated with poor health outcomes. The papers that comprise this special issue of Memory put flesh to those bones by approaching the question from a narrative memory perspective. Meaning making, these studies demonstrate, is a multi-faceted phenomenon and whether it is necessary or adaptive depends on which particular form of meaning making is considered and on the context and timing in which it occurs. To situate these insights in a broader framework I consider parallels with the emergent literature on regulatory flexibility and briefly review recent research and theory on that construct as it has been applied in the literatures on coping and emotion regulation. Finally, I close by suggesting a basic framework, informed by the flexibility construct, that might guide future research on meaning making.     

Training service providers working with traumatized children in South Africa: The navigations of a trainer

In South Africa, counselling training poses two related difficulties: working in a situation of ubiquitous, ongoing violence, and offering training to people who have minimal or no qualifications and are often overwhelmed by enormous workload. In this context, there is a temptation either to give up hope in the face of the enormity of the task, or defensively to package counselling as a set of techniques which can be taught without much self-reflection. In this article we discuss, by contrast, an intervention which used psychodynamic principles to develop learner-centred training drawing on trainees' own experiences. We consider the benefits of this approach even in a context of violence and meagre resources.     

A psychodynamic perspective on early childhood trauma in an adult: A case study

Abstract

This paper uses a long-term case to illustrate, from a psychodynamic perspective, a number of issues arising in working with an adult survivor of early childhood trauma. The paper takes an overview of the case study, identifying issues which are inextricably interwoven in the client's experience of trauma, and which impact on the working alliance. The therapeutic relationship forged with the client is discussed in terms of its intrinsic successes and failures together with the implications of early traumatic experiences for the termination of counselling.