Trauma Blog

Media Matters: Trauma at our Fingertips: Understanding the Psychological Impact of Graphic Media Coverage
StressPoints
It has never been easier to record—or even live stream—graphic events up close and share them with the world. While the existence of both smartphones and the internet has allowed the world to be more connected than ever before, we may also be at risk for greater exposure to disturbing images and videos (Holman et al., 2020). One may thus begin to wonder how frequent consumption of such graphic images impacts our mental health. Some studies have shown, perhaps unsurprisingly, positive associations between the amount of exposure to media coverage of violence and subsequent psychological distress (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms; Holman et al., 2020; Silver et al., 2013). 

Bringing Greater Resilience to Our Communities with GRIT
In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to take hold across the United States, the National Institute for Human Resilience (NIHR) created GRIT – Greater Resilience Intervention Teams. The purpose of GRIT is to train volunteers in the community to promote wellness and resilience support to fellow community members – friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances – in the wake of the stress caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and future disasters.

Bringing Greater Resilience to Our Communities with GRIT
In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to take hold across the United States, the National Institute for Human Resilience (NIHR) created GRIT – Greater Resilience Intervention Teams. The purpose of GRIT is to train volunteers in the community to promote wellness and resilience support to fellow community members – friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances – in the wake of the stress caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and future disasters.

How Patterns of Victimization Among LGBTQ Individuals Impact Mental and Physical Health
This study explored different patterns of victimization among LGBTQ individuals and the relationship to mental and physical health outcomes. Findings suggested polyvictimization was an important risk factor and that there is a diversity among LGBTQ individuals with regard to victimization classes and across different gender identities.  

ISTSS Global Travel Award Campaign Reaches Goal!
ISTSS celebrates the completion of its ambitious $100,000 Global Travel Award Campaign! Led by the vision and generosity of two ISTSS members who initiated the campaign with leadership gifts, the ISTSS Board then launched a $20,000 matching gift campaign and, with the support of the wider ISTSS community and $10,000 that ISTSS received from the estate of Ellen Frey Wouters, successfully reached its milestone of $100,000.

Enhancing Social Support May Improve Cognitive Processing Therapy Outcomes in Telemedicine for PTSD
Telehealth-based delivery of gold-standard posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatments such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT; Resick et al., 2017) has been shown to be no less effective than in-person delivery of care (Morland et al., 2014, 2015). Yet providers may be curious about what might improve outcomes. Malleable characteristics, such as the amount of social support an individual perceives they have, are of special interest. Although some research has shown social support can encourage greater reductions in PTSD symptoms (Price et al., 2018), individuals living in rural areas might have important differences. Therefore, we set out to evaluate whether pre-existing perceived social support could enhance the effects of CPT for rural American military veterans participating in a pragmatic randomized effectiveness trial of telehealth-based collaborative care for PTSD (Fortney et al., 2015).

Student Perspectives: Anger in Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: What Are the Consequences and What Treatments Can Be Offered?
StressPoints
During the World War II, researchers observed high levels of anger associated with exposure to traumatic events among soldiers presenting with what was then called “combat neurosis” (Grinker & Spielgel, 1945 in Morland et al., 2012). More recently, numerous studies have continued to show a close relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and both anger and hostility among veterans (Chemtob et al. 1997; Jakupcak et al., 2007; Morland et al., 2012; van Voorhees et al., 2019).

Trauma and World Literature: Freud’s Sunday Child and the 1918 Pandemic Influenza
StressPoints

Monday's child is fair in face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
And a child that's born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

—Children’s Nursery Rhyme