Trauma Blog

Clinician's Corner: Recognizing Traumatic Brain Injury Among Survivors of Intimate Partner Abuse
StressPoints
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have been called the signature injury suffered by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been singled out as a risk factor for the development of dementing disease among world-class athletes.
 

Enhancing Social Support May Improve Cognitive Processing Therapy Outcomes in Telemedicine for PTSD
As we work to sustain and tailor our mental health services during the era of COVID-19 and think ahead to future clinical needs, clinicians are increasingly transitioning their care to telehealth modalities. The good news for health care providers is that 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). Although CPT delivered remotely appears to be noninferior to in-person care, providers may be curious about which characteristics of individuals seeking to participate in CPT via telehealth might improve their outcomes. Malleable characteristics, such as the amount of social support an individual perceives they have, are of special interest if their enhancement might direct providers to specific treatment plans or targets. 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 that could change how social support benefits treatment. Therefore, we set out to evaluate the degree to which 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).

Enhancing Social Support May Improve Cognitive Processing Therapy Outcomes in Telemedicine for PTSD
As we work to sustain and tailor our mental health services during the era of COVID-19 and think ahead to future clinical needs, clinicians are increasingly transitioning their care to telehealth modalities. The good news for health care providers is that 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). Although CPT delivered remotely appears to be noninferior to in-person care, providers may be curious about which characteristics of individuals seeking to participate in CPT via telehealth might improve their outcomes. Malleable characteristics, such as the amount of social support an individual perceives they have, are of special interest if their enhancement might direct providers to specific treatment plans or targets. 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 that could change how social support benefits treatment. Therefore, we set out to evaluate the degree to which 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).

How do Black Men Seek Psychological Help after Trauma?
How and why people seek help after a traumatic event remains an area ripe for study. We know that trauma symptoms can be a potential barrier to seeking psychological help though in some cases they may serve to facilitate help seeking. Given the burden of racism in the US, Black men often feel these barriers most potently.

Using Latent Class Analysis to Support ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Diagnosis in a Sample of Homeless Adults
Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) is a new diagnosis that recognises that different types of traumatic experiences can impact individuals in ways that the more established diagnosis of PTSD does not capture (World Health Organization, 2018: WHO). The distinction might best be conveyed by considering the way an individual could internalise the experience of surviving a serious car accident, or terrorist attack, with the way another individual internalises repetitive childhood sexual abuse. We investigated the CPTSD model with a group of people who have experienced homelessness and trauma in Australia.

Enhancing Social Support May Improve Cognitive Processing Therapy Outcomes in Telemedicine for PTSD
As we work to sustain and tailor our mental health services during the era of COVID-19 and think ahead to future clinical needs, clinicians are increasingly transitioning their care to telehealth modalities. The good news for health care providers is that 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). Although CPT delivered remotely appears to be noninferior to in-person care, providers may be curious about which characteristics of individuals seeking to participate in CPT via telehealth might improve their outcomes. Malleable characteristics, such as the amount of social support an individual perceives they have, are of special interest if their enhancement might direct providers to specific treatment plans or targets. 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 that could change how social support benefits treatment. Therefore, we set out to evaluate the degree to which 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).

ISTSS 2019: Reflections from A Global Travel Award Recipient Psychology and Boston: Sparking a New Flame
This past November, I had a unique opportunity of presenting my abstract at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) 35th Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. The conference theme was “Trauma, Recovery, and Resilience: Charting a Course Forward.” My abstract was titled “Validation of the Screen for Children Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders-Revised Version (SCARED-R) for Use in Rwanda.”

From Our Members: I’ll Be Seeing You: A Reflection in the Time of COVID-19
StressPoints
As we persevere through the coronavirus battle together, yet apart, I am reminded of a veteran patient of mine who lost his brother near the end of World War II. His poignant account of the special bond that was severed by his brother’s death inspired me to write this vignette and poem, I’ll Be Seeing You.