Bringing Together Clinicians and Researchers From Around the World to Advocate for the Field of Traumatic Stress.
Healing Trauma Together
The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies is dedicated to sharing information about the effects of trauma and the discovery and dissemination of knowledge about policy, program and service initiatives that seek to reduce traumatic stressors and their immediate and long-term consequences. ISTSS is an international interdisciplinary professional organization that promotes advancement and exchange of knowledge about traumatic stress.
Late-Breaking Poster Abstracts for the ISTSS 40th Annual Meeting
Deadline: Friday, July 26, 2024
All too often, research isn't completed when ISTSS abstract submissions close. ISTSS is excited to offer this opportunity to submit a late-breaking poster submission for the 40th Annual Meeting.
Only poster abstract submissions will be considered.
The ISTSS 40th Annual Meeting will focus on innovative strategies to apply basic science knowledge to the assessment and treatment of traumatic stress, as well as on the translation of scientific findings into actionable interventions for the global community. In pursuit of this goal, we seek submissions specific to the field of traumatic stress on topics related—but not limited—to:
- Application of biomedical science findings to inform assessments and interventions for traumatic stress symptoms/disorders.
- Research investigating the psychological, biological, social and behavioral mechanisms that underlie post-trauma mental health.
- Research taking a life course perspective to address to address the spectrum of translational science research.
- Evidence-based practices and innovative research in basic science, intervention development and implementation, and policy.
- Innovative transdiagnostic treatment approaches addressing the myriad consequences of trauma.
- Cutting-edge research methodologies and statistical frameworks for translational science research.
- Ethical implications and considerations associated with the application of translational science in traumatic stress studies.
- Ways to effectively communicate and disseminate research to different stakeholders.
- Ways to cultivate translational science and interdisciplinary exchange.
- Challenges and debates in the area of translational science.
- Translational science as applicable to the global community.
Registration is Now Open!
Join us in Boston on September 25-28, 2024 for the ISTSS 40th Annual Meeting. The ISTSS Annual Meeting provides a forum for the dissemination of theoretical work, scientific research, and evidence-based clinical approaches in traumatic stress studies.
Conversations and Consultations
Our Conversations and Consultation series is a members-only series that provides members with the opportunity to exchange valuable insight and advice with subject-matter experts, mentors, and/or colleagues in the trauma field. Each session is facilitated by one or more experts and presented to ISTSS members as a free membership benefit. Check out past sessions on industry careers, part-time private practice, and our most recent session on international collaboration.
Grow Your Professional Network by Volunteering with ISTSS
Volunteers play an integral role in ISTSS' day-to-day activities and form a broad professional network. Interested in adding an ISTSS volunteer position to your CV?
Global perspectives: Achieving inclusion of individuals with disability: The cultural dimension – Philomena J. Tanui, PhD
Culture, defined as local beliefs, practices, role assignments and symbolic practices by which men and women live (Eagleton, 2016), can play a formative role in demarcating members of a shared collective. It can shape what members of a community perceive as important and problematic cultural issues. Culture is also dynamic. Community members and structures, both carriers of cultural knowledge, ascribe roles and responsibilities by which individuals operate and make meaning of perceived differences among them, including disability status (Ingstad & Grut, 2007). Furthermore, the perceptions and assignment of status of people by a society affect issues of development for individuals with disabilities and orients the phenomenon, disability, relative to what is considered socially and culturally by a group as normative (Devlieger, 2005).
Gender euphoria: Why mental health professionals should prioritize trans joy – Georgina M. Gross, PhD (they/them), Kelly Harper, PhD (she/they), Cara S. Herbitter, PhD (they/she), and Mauricio Montes, PhD (he/him)
The field of mental health has made significant advances in supporting transgender and gender expansive individuals (TGE) by identifying ways the sociocultural environment oppresses TGE individuals and contributes to health disparities (Hendricks & Testa, 2012). The focus of research and clinical services for TGE individuals has overwhelmingly been on understanding and reducing the harms associated with trauma, discrimination and gender dysphoria (Beek et al., 2016). Gender dysphoria, or the distress associated with a misalignment between one's gender identity and their assigned sex at birth (and associated societal expectations), has been the concept most central to conceptualizing TGE identity for decades (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Although reduction of distress and impairment among TGE individuals is vital, this focus has been criticized for prioritizing negative aspects of TGE identity at the expense of experiences that embody affirmation, strength, pride and joy (Beischel et al., 2022).
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and human services providers in practice and in training: A global collaboration on psychotrauma survey project – Julian D. Ford, PhD
As we enter the fourth year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic’s impact on population mental health is of uncertain magnitude and duration (Manchia et al., 2022), but evidence from numerous surveys indicate adverse outcomes for girls and women (Sun et al., 2023), gender minority individuals (Nowaskie & Roesler, 2022), individuals with physical health problems (Robinson et al., 2022), older adults, and children and adolescents (Zolopa et al., 2022). A particularly vulnerable group, despite having a high level of resilience, are healthcare workers and organizations, and the mental/behavioral health impact on medical, nursing and other physical healthcare providers is well recognized (e.g., Ford et al., 2022; Hannemann et al., 2022; Sahebi et al., 2021). However, the toll on mental/behavioral health and human services providers has not been systematically evaluated, with only two surveys to date. One, conducted in 2020 with 110 psychotherapists from the United Kingdom, identified burnout as prevalent (Kotera et al., 2021). The second, a survey of child/adolescent, couples and family therapists in Canada (N=1280 in July 2020; 905 in June 2021), found that therapists reported better mental health than the general population but increasing difficulties with sleep, anxiety, sadness, irritability and mood swings in 2021 compared to 2020 (Battam & Hilbrecht, 2021).