Collective Traumatic Events Research Articles

The Collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa on 14 August 2018: A Collective Traumatic Event and Its Emotional Impact Linked to the Place and Loss of a Symbol

The collapse of the Morandi bridge in Italy, which took place in the summer of 2018, has had enormous emotional, economic, and social consequences for the inhabitants of the area, which are felt throughout the world. As seen in the literature, collective traumatic events increase the experience of insecurity and paranoia, thus increasing the perception of vulnerability. The present work aims to bring out the emotions most experienced by the participants connected to the traumatic event in question, paying attention to the possible solutions to be proposed to local stakeholders from a sustainability perspective, this way favouring community empowerment. The research, carried out with the photovoice technique, involved 30 young adults residing in areas near the event. The results illustrate how the participants experienced mainly feelings of emptiness, vulnerability, and fear as well as anger, despair, and mistrust of the institutions. It was also stressed that the economic and structural hardships hit the inhabitants hard. There have been many concrete solutions identified by the participants: creating a support network, supporting the local economy, and keeping the memory alive. The research and application implications underline the importance of using photovoice within community interventions, a tool that facilitates awareness and active citizenship.

The Function of Play for Coping and Therapy with Children Exposed to Disasters and Political Violence.

The objectives were to identify specific characteristics and patterns of children's play following events of political violence or disasters, examine their associations with risk and resilience, and explore their implications for preventive and therapeutic intervention. Patterns of individual, dyadic, and social play are associated with measures of children's adaptation following collective traumatic events. Modifying the traditional child-centered play therapy, by integrating CBT principles or including parents, may increase efficacy. Preventive interventions in the aftermath of collective traumatic events must address children's need to play in safe spaces, with the support of significant adults. Recognizing that posttraumatic play is a multifaceted phenomenon implies the need for more individualized play therapy models, varying in level of therapist's activity and techniques employed. Research is needed to clarify the validity of play measures for assessing adaptation and to study the effectiveness of integrative play-based models.

A Study of the Commemoration of Social Loss after a Collective Traumatic Event - Focused on Sewol Ferry Disaster in Korea -

본 연구는 트라우마 사건으로 인한 사회적 상실을 경험한 이후 대중의 추모 반응을 확인하기 위해 비교적 최근에 발생한 대규모 사회적 상실인 세월호 사건의 추모 반응에 대한 사례 연구를 실시하였다. 특히 기념일 반응 연구의 일환으로 사건 1,2주기에 추모 반응이 어떠한 차이를 보이는지 비교하기 위해 세월호 추모 행사와 관련된 신문기사를 수집하여 토픽 모델링 방법을 통해 기사에서 가장 빈번히 드러나는 25개의 토픽을 추출하여 이를 분석하였다. 그 결과 세월호 추모 행사에서 등장하는 가장 주요한 토픽은 ‘상실에 대한 집단 기억의 공유’였으며, 사건 발생 이후 2년 동안 토픽의 등장 비율이 가장 높았던 달은 사건 1,2주기가 있었던 달이었다. 또한 사건 1주기에는 희생자에 대한 추모와 관련된 주제가 주로 등장했다면 2주기에는 이에 비해 상대적으로 사건의 진상규명을 요구하는 토픽의 등장 비율이 증가했다. 이러한 연구 결과를 통해 사회적 상실 이후의 회복에 있어 상실과 관련된 이야기를 타인과 안전하게 드러내고 공유할 수 있는 사회적 환경의 중요성이 드러났으며, 특히 사건과 관련된 기념일에 이에 대한 중요성이 더욱 두드러짐을 확인할 수 있었다.

Did Strategic Bombing in the Second World War Lead to ‘German Angst’? A Large–Scale Empirical Test across 89 German Cities

A widespread stereotype holds that the Germans are notorious worriers, an idea captured by the term German angst. An analysis of country–level neurotic personality traits (trait anxiety, trait depression, and trait neuroticism; N = 7 210 276) across 109 countries provided mixed support for this idea; Germany ranked 20th, 31st, and 53rd for depression, anxiety, and neuroticism, respectively, suggesting, at best, the national stereotype is only partly valid. Theories put forward to explain the stereotypical characterization of Germany focus on the collective traumatic events experienced by Germany during World War II (WWII), such as the massive strategic bombing of German cities. We thus examined the link between strategic bombing of 89 German cities and today's regional levels in neurotic traits ( N = 33 534) and related mental health problems. Contrary to the WWII bombing hypothesis, we found negative effects of strategic bombing on regional trait depression and mental health problems. This finding was robust when controlling for a host of economic factors and social structure. We also found Resilience × Stressor interactions: Cities with more severe bombings show more resilience today (lower levels of neurotic traits and mental health problems in the face of a current major stressor—economic hardship). Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

Tragedy and trauma in the plays of Christopher Marlowe

Contending that criticism of Marlowe’s plays has been limited by humanist conceptions of tragedy, this book engages with trauma theory, especially psychoanalytic trauma theory, to offer a fresh critical perspective within which to make sense of the tension in Marlowe’s plays between the tragic and the traumatic. The author argues that tragedies are trauma narratives, narratives of wounding; however, in Marlowe’s plays, a traumatic aesthetics disrupts the closure that tragedy seeks to enact. Martin’s fresh reading of Massacre at Paris, which is often dismissed by critics as a bad tragedy, presents the play as deliberately breaking the conventions of the tragic genre in order to enact a traumatic aesthetics that pulls its audience into one of the early modern period’s most notorious collective traumatic events, the massacre of French Huguenots in Paris in 1572. The chapters on Marlowe’s six other plays similarly argue that throughout Marlowe’s drama tragedy is held in tension with-and disrupted by-the aesthetics of trauma.

Cumulative Exposure to Prior Collective Trauma and Acute Stress Responses to the Boston Marathon Bombings

The role of repeated exposure to collective trauma in explaining response to subsequent community-wide trauma is poorly understood. We examined the relationship between acute stress response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and prior direct and indirect media-based exposure to three collective traumatic events: the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks, Superstorm Sandy, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Representative samples of residents of metropolitan Boston (n = 846) and New York City (n = 941) completed Internet-based surveys shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings. Cumulative direct exposure and indirect exposure to prior community trauma and acute stress symptoms were assessed. Acute stress levels did not differ between Boston and New York metropolitan residents. Cumulative direct and indirect, live-media-based exposure to 9/11, Superstorm Sandy, and the Sandy Hook shooting were positively associated with acute stress responses in the covariate-adjusted model. People who experience multiple community-based traumas may be sensitized to the negative impact of subsequent events, especially in communities previously exposed to similar disasters.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies and type 2 diabetes: psychometric assessment after L'Aquila earthquake.

After natural and collective catastrophes, many behavioral phenomena can occur through psychobiological responses that involve also the diabetic condition.The aim of this study was to investigate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coping strategies in type 2 diabetic patients after L'Aquila earthquake, with a particular attention to the newly diagnosed patients and to the gender differences. Among the local diabetic population, we recruited 100 diabetic patients (46 women and 54 men). Sixty of these had diabetes before the earthquake (pre-quake patients), and other 40 received diabetes diagnosis after the earthquake (post-quake patients). A psychometric protocol composed by Davidson Trauma Scale for PTSD and Brief-COPE for coping strategies was administered. We found significant differences in the levels of PTSD when comparing both post-quake with pre-quake patients (post-quake=51.72±26.05 vs. pre-quake=31.65±22.59; p<0.05) and the female patients with males (women=53.50±27.01 vs. men=31.65±23.06; p<0.05) and also in the prevalence [post-quake=27/40 (67.5%) vs. pre-quake=20/60 (33.3%); p<0.05], [women=27/46 (58.69%) vs. men=16/54 (29.62%); p<0.05]. Moreover, maladaptive coping was a predictive factor for PTSD in the post-quake group only (OR 1.682; 95% CI 1.155-2.450; p=0.006). Our results revealed that PTSD may be considered an important comorbidity factor in newly diagnosed patients and in diabetic women. Hence, a psychological support seems particularly important in these patients after a collective traumatic event to help them react to both PTSD and diabetes and to help them improve their coping skills.

Shared Traumatic Stress among Social Workers in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract Withclimatechange,socialworkersandothermentalhealthprofessionalsmayfindthem-selves living and working in environments prone to natural disasters. The term sharedtraumatic stress (SdTS) contains aspects of post-traumatic stress and secondary trauma,and reflects practitioners’ dual exposure to collective traumatic events. In an effort toexplore and further validate the construct of SdTS, a sample of 244 social workers fromNew Orleans were studied using path analytic modelling with respect to the personaland professional impact of Hurricane Katrina. Potential risk factors included attachmentstyle, exposure to potentially traumatic life events and enduring distress attributed toHurricane Katrina. Social workers’ resilience was examined for its role in mediating therelationship between these risk factors and SdTS. As hypothesised, insecure attachment,greater exposure to potentially traumatic life events in general and distress related tothe events surrounding Hurricane Katrina were predictive of higher levels of SdTS. Inse-cure attachment and enduring distress attributed to Katrina also significantly predictedlower levels of resilience, though exposure to potentially traumatic life events did not.Resiliencewasfoundtomediatetherelationshipbetweeninsecureattachment,enduringdistress attributed to Katrina and SdTS but not the relationship between exposure topotentially traumatic life events and SdTS. Implications for theory, research and practiceare described.Keywords: Shared trauma, shared traumatic stress, shared traumatic reality, HurricaneKatrina, social workertrauma,secondarytrauma

Mass Graves and the Politics of Reconciliation: Construction of Memorial Sites after the Srebrenica Massacre

Burial is an integral part of reconciling with death. In this way, mortuary practices are made for the living; and the manner of death and burials continue to affect the politics of the living. Especially after collective traumatic events such as the Srebrenica massacre, reburials become central to the reconciliation process of the surviving communities. The process of reburial, however, also facilitates the claims that a particular territory is part of a specific, ethnic ‘homeland’. As reburials aim to forget the atrocities, they also commemorate them. Although reburial is one of the few ways of moving on after the death of a loved one, it simultaneously claims territory for the communities whose dead are buried there, potentially reigniting tensions in the future. Reburial allows communal reconciliation, but only for the community of the victims. For the community of the perpetrators, such a reburial only serves as a humiliation and inhibits harmony. Attempting to reconcile post-conflict multi-ethnic communities is thus impossible without understanding the profound effects that the community of the dead continues to play in the lives of the living.

Prix Spécial de L’Évolution psychiatrique 2012. À propos de… « Les violences sexuelles à l’adolescence » de Pascal Roman

Les violences sexuelles semblent avoir un impact plus important sur la santé mentale que d’autres formes d’événements traumatiques. La prise en charge médico-psychologique précoce des personnes qui en sont victimes apparaît donc comme un enjeu majeur de santé publique contenu de leur fréquence. Il existe des prises en charge médico-psychologiques immédiates formalisées proposées précocement aux victimes d’événements traumatiques collectifs. Ce présent travail a pour but de rechercher s’il en existe pour les victimes d’agression sexuelle.Une revue systématique de la littérature a été réalisée en explorant les bases de données Pubmed, PsycINFO et SUDOC.La prise en charge médico-psychologique immédiate des personnes victimes d’agression sexuelle est consensuelle concernant le dispositif d’accueil des victimes, leur évaluation initiale, les interventions psychologiques et l’information à leur délivrer. Concernant les soins spécifiques, il n’y a pas de concordance sur l’intervention systématique ou pas d’un professionnel spécialiste en santé mentale ni sur les traitements médicamenteux à employer. Quant à l’orientation des patients, après les urgences, vers les services de santé mentale, les avis sont partagés.De nombreux aspects de la prise en charge médico-psychologique immédiate habituellement proposée aux victimes d’événement traumatique collectif seraient recommandés pour les victimes d’agression sexuelle, sous réserve d’une formation spécifique des soignants et d’une organisation des services d’urgence dans un souci d’articulation avec les différents intervenants sanitaires (gynécologie, médecine légale et psychiatrie), judiciaires et sociaux, dans une perspective dynamique tenant compte de l’évolution potentielle propre à chaque victime.It seems that sexual violence has a greater impact on mental health (consequences like post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, alcohol use disorder, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts) than any other form of traumatic event. One of the challenges public health instances have to face is how to provide medico-psychological care from an early stage. When it comes to dealing with traumatic collective events, immediate medico-psychological care protocols have been widely formalized. The purpose of our study is to determine whether this first care is usually applied to adults who are victims of sexual assault.A systematic review was conducted using the Pubmed, PsycINFO and SUDOC databases.Out of 2173 articles, 24 were selected. There seems to be a consensus on a few points regarding how to take psychological care of sexual assault victims as soon as they are admitted in the ER. For the victims’ reception, all professionals dealing with victims of sexual assault should be specifically trained to do so. Multi-professional care should be coordinated and those interventions should be centralized, in one single place. Initially, It's essential to collect the risk factors that could trigger post-traumatic stress disorder, assess the signs of acute distress and assess the risk of suicide. Psychological interventions for victims of collective traumatic events (interventions as Psychological First Aid or the interventions of the Cellules d’Urgence Médico-Psychologique in France) should be applied to sexual assault victims. These acts consist in having an empathetic and non-judgmental attitude, while at the same time aiming to restore an immediate sense of security and control. These also include assessing and ensuring the future security of the patient, assessing and promoting social support and finally assessing and addressing his potential needs. Moreover, it's necessary to inform the patient about the symptoms associated to stress, their possible evolution and the available care ressources. However, regarding specific care, there is no agreement on the systematic intervention of a professional specialist in mental health and no agreement on the drug treatments to be employed. The technique of Defusing is only mentioned in one publication. As for systematically referring patients after emergencies to mental health services, opinions are divided.Many aspects of the immediate medico-psychological care usually offered to victims of collective traumatic events is recommended for victims of sexual assault provided that the medical staff or team of caregivers receive appropriate training. The ER would also highly benefit from an organization in which gynecologists, legal doctors, psychiatrists, social and judicial actors would collaborate towards a comprehensive support of patients. It seems important to be able to offer comprehensive patient support, like a Case Management, in the short and medium term (support on the medical, social and legal aspects which would take into account the evolution particular to each case) and to assess the effectiveness of these devices. It also seems important to continue evaluating the impact of interventions and drug treatments used in practice on the prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder.

P-581 - Quality of life after a wildfire disaster in a rural area of Greece

Introduction Although disasters differ widely, they usually have some common psychological and social consequences. Psychological symptoms can range from mild and transient ones, such as altered behaviour or acute distress, to severe such as major depression and suicidality. Studies following those collective traumatic events have shown reduced levels of Quality of Life (QoL) in the affected populations. Objectives To investigate the QoL in individuals who had experienced severe exposure to a wildfire disaster in a part of Greece three years after the disaster. Aims a) to examine the QoL of the victims, b) to compare the quality of life of those affected by the disaster (cases) with the quality of life of those who were not (controls) and c) to examine factors which may have a significant effect on the quality of life (psychological factors, losses, and demographics). Methods A Cross sectional case control study of adult population (18–65 years old). The measured variables were: a) quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF measure, b) previous psychiatric caseness as identified using the SCL-90-R and c) demographics. Results 364 participants (184 victims and 180 controls).Victims of the wildfires had a statistically significant poorer quality of life in the three domains of physical health, psychological health, and environment compared to controls. After adjusting for other variables, the only difference between victims and controls was in the environment domain. Conclusions Disasters have long lasting effects on victims. Psychological and physical health may improve after some time but environmental quality of life may need longer.

Colouring in the Blanks: Memory Drawings of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion

AbstractThis study used drawing tasks to examine the similarities and differences between females and males who shared a collective traumatic event in early childhood. Could these childhood memories be recorded, measured, and compared for gender differences in drawings by young adults who had shared a similar experience as children? Exploration of this question drove this qualitative research project to examine drawings by young Kuwaiti men and women, who were residents in Kuwait during the 1990 Saddam‐Hussein‐led Iraqi invasion of their country. Visual results from this study show colour, image and symbol (CIS) patterns, and differences in gender images in drawings which represent a select population's response to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Self-Efficacy and Health-Related Outcomes of Collective Trauma

The objective of our study was to systematically review research evidence for relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and psychological as well as somatic outcomes of collective traumatic events. Twenty-seven studies enrolling adult and adolescent survivors of acute, escalating, and chronic collective trauma with a total of N = 8011 participants were reviewed. Cross-sectional studies suggest medium to large effects of self-efficacy on general distress, severity and frequency of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) symptoms (weighted r values range from –.36 to –.77), whereas longitudinal studies indicate large effects on general distress and PTSD symptom severity (weighted r values range: –.55 to –.62). Self-efficacy was also related to better somatic health (self-reported symptoms, i.e., less pain, fatigue, or disability). Studies addressing the relationship between self-efficacy and substance abuse after collective trauma revealed a more complex picture. Some types of pretreatment self-efficacy (e.g., self-efficacy for coping with urges) or changes in efficacy beliefs may predict less substance use or relapses. Studies testing the mediating role of cognitive or social variables in the relationship among efficacy beliefs and health outcomes indicated rather direct, unmediated effects of beliefs about ability to deal with adversities on posttraumatic adaptation. Men may benefit more from stronger efficacy beliefs. In terms of reciprocity between self-efficacy and health, evidence from longitudinal studies suggested that self-efficacy determines health-related outcomes, but changes in diagnosis do not predict changes in self-efficacy. Although a lack of experimental studies limits the conclusions, the results indicated that self-efficacy is a powerful predictor of posttraumatic recovery among collective trauma survivors.