Posted on 07/30/2020 by Debra L. Kaysen, PhD, ABPP
The 2020 ISTSS Annual Meeting theme on addressing challenges in meeting the needs of underserved communities, although selected long in advance of the current moment, appears strangely prescient of the moment we are in. As we watch the unfolding impact of the global pandemic, it has amplified existing disparities and has disproportionately impacted vulnerable communities. Deaths from COVID-19 are higher among Black, Brown and Indigenous people, both within and outside of the United States.
StressPoints
Posted on 07/30/2020 by Dr. Samar Fouda
Jane Wagner’s words, “reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it,” highlight the dire truth that day-to-day life is stressful and, all too often, traumatic. Stress and trauma are not rare and isolated events; it is estimated that 70% of the world’s population is exposed to trauma [1]. However, resilience is the norm rather than the exception. Approximately 6% of trauma-exposed individuals will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Like all psychiatric symptomology, stress response symptoms occur along a continuum and many people will experience some level of symptoms with great variability across populations [2].
StressPoints
Posted on 07/30/2020 by Andreas Maercker, PhD, MD
Older adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not often seek psychological support independent of a referral from a general health care practitioner. There are several reasons for this. One general observation is that people of the older generations often have great difficulty accepting the underlying concept of PTSD as a disordered psychological state. We know that many older people consider severe adversities in their early life to be "just part of life," implying very limited or neglected utilization of professional intervention (Hiskey & McPherson, 2013).