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.
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?
Greetings from the New Associate Editor – Kelsey Serier, PhD
For many, myself included, the transition from graduate student to early career professional is an exciting and dauting time. It is a period of newfound independence and immense possibility about the direction and scope of your career. Yet, it is also a time where you are required to do more, such as learn new skills and take on more responsibilities, while also having doubts about your own abilities or your career path.
ISTSS StressPoints: Call for Contributing Editors – NULL
The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) publishes StressPoints, an award-winning electronic newsletter to support the professional development needs of its membership. Four issues are published annually. The purpose of StressPoints is to provide an outlet for rapidly sharing news and recent advances in global trauma research and practice.
The PTSD Criterion A debate: A brief history, current status, and recommendations for moving forward – Brian P. Marx, PhD, Brittany Hall-Clark, PhD, Paul Holtzheimer, MD, Matthew J. Friedman, MD, PhD, & Paula P. Schnurr, PhD
Since its introduction into the diagnostic nomenclature, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Criterion A, known as the stressor criterion and referred to as simply ‘Criterion A,’ has been one of the most controversial aspects of the PTSD diagnosis. More specifically, since 1980, the PTSD field has debated where to draw the line between which experiences are considered ‘traumatic’ and which experiences are not. Even numerous attempts to revise the definition of PTSD Criterion A in subsequent editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) have not quelled the controversy. Opinions vary widely on how to best resolve the problem, especially in the wake of the recent events that have brought this debate to the forefront once again (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and other racism-related stressors). Some scholars have suggested that Criterion A should be more inclusive, whereas others have suggested it should be narrower; still others have suggested that Criterion A should be eliminated altogether.