Survivors Of Traumatic Events Research Articles

Terra incognita проблемы жизнеспособности: открытые вопросы. Часть 1.

The increase of uncertainty, instability, complexity, ambiguity of the dynamics of the condition of social subjects are among the issues that make vitality problem topical. This results in higher standards for adaptation mechanisms of an individual and social groups (families, work groups, sports, management, project teams) and greater importance of socio-psychological and psychological resources of a person. Not all spontaneously formed adaptation mechanisms of individual and group subjects are adequate for real-life situations, not all of them are developed when it is necessary and change when the goals and requirements of the environment change. The purpose of the study is to conduct research of human vitality under uncertainty conditions; the object of the study is: social and psychological mechanisms and human vitality resources; methods include: historical and theoretical analysis, analysis of empirical research results. Hypothesis: The first stage is maintaining the vitality of an individual and social groups via formation of prosocial mechanisms of behavior according to a model (prototype). The following development stages of vitality involve forming adaptation mechanisms initiated and supported by the evolution of the “internal conditions” of the subject. We analysed the materials related to vitality study in foreign and domestic psychology from the 1960s to the present: historically emerging approaches (five “waves”), subject and tasks, mechanisms and types of human adaptation to the physical and social environment. It is stated that, within the boundar ies of historically formed paradigms, two human states are considered – “below the norm” and “norms” of social, psychological, physical functioning, characteristics of which are described by the concepts of “improvement”, “positive adaptation”, “preservation”, “back to normal”, “optimal condition”, “achieving a good result”; vitality is viewed as the achievement and maintenance of “social homeostasis” by a person, with the focus on the prosocial behavior models of other people, who are reproducing such models. Climbing the heights of physical and spiritual maturity, reaching a higher level of social functioning, the effects of positive changes in survivors of traumatic events remain unexplored, and retain the status of terra incognita.

Psychometric validation of the centrality of events scale in a Nigerian clinical sample

We sought to validate the Centrality of Event Scale (CES) in a Nigerian clinical sample of people living with HIV/ ADS. Our sample consisted of 869 people living with HIV/AIDS. They completed the CES, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 5 (DSM-5), and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-short form for concurrent validation. Following exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), results confirmed a three-factor structure for the CES, including: reference point, personal identity, and turning point. Positive event centralisation was positively associated with posttraumatic growth (PTG), while negative event centralisation was positively associated with PTSD symptoms. This suggests that in a clinical sample, survivors of traumatic events who positively centralise their traumatic experiences may experience post-traumatic growth while those who negatively centralise their traumatic experiences may experience PTSD symptoms.

Implications of posttraumatic growth for the treatment of comorbid substance abuse among survivors of traumatic experiences

ObjectivesResearch suggests that individuals treated for substance use disorders are not routinely assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology despite high rates of comorbidity. One area of research that has been overlooked in theory, research, and practice on the comorbidity of substance use disorders and PTSD is the study of post-traumatic growth. The purpose of the current study is to explore the relevance of post-traumatic growth for the treatment of comorbid substance use disorders among individuals suffering from traumatic stress or PTSD. MethodA sample of 256 adults who survived the 2010 earthquake in Haiti completed measures of coping and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). The study regressed a measure of substance use coping on the scores on the subscales of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory adjusting for PTSD symptoms, general coping, and religious coping. ResultsThe findings suggest that one PTGI subscale, appreciation of life, was a statistically significant predictor of substance use coping among trauma survivors. ConclusionThe principles of post-traumatic growth may have clinical implications for comorbid substance use among survivors of traumatic events. This study provides a path forward in efforts to create rapprochement between basic research and clinical services in the treatment of comorbid substance use in trauma survivors.

New Challenges in Addiction Medicine: COVID-19 Infection in Patients With Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders-The Perfect Storm.

New Challenges in Addiction Medicine: COVID-19 Infection in Patients With Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders-The Perfect Storm.

Male Survivors’ Perceptions of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Management Strategies in the South African Mining Sector

Deep-shaft mining is regarded as a high-risk occupation with an increasing number of traumatic accidents. Though there are strategies for the management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), little has been done to document the male survivors’ perceptions of PTSD management strategies in the South African mining sector. An exploratory, descriptive and contextual study was conducted within the South African mining sector to explore and describe the survivors’ perceptions of PTSD management strategies. The population comprised all men who were suffering from PTSD as a result of accidents in the mines. A purposive sample of 29 men was selected to participate in the study and data saturation was achieved. Unstructured individual interviews and field notes were used as methods of data collection. One question was asked during the interviews: “What do think helped you recover from PTSD?” Communication skills were employed to facilitate the participation of the men during the interviews. Data were collected using a voice recorder and were then transcribed verbatim and analysed using Tesch’s descriptive method of data analysis. Measures for ensuring trustworthiness were applied to verify the findings. Three themes emerged during data analysis: (1) perceived emphasis on physical versus psychological treatments, (2) perceived coping strategies used to deal with the trauma, and lastly, (3) the perceived effect of social support networks during trauma. Based on the perceptions of the participants, it became evident that PTSD management did not meet expectations. An integrated approach is recommended for the future treatment of psychological and physical trauma among survivors of traumatic events in the mining sector.

Toxic landfills, survivor trees, and dust cloud memories: More-than-human ecologies of 9/11 memory

The symbolic power of grass, trees, flowers, stones, water, and other everyday objects to evoke more-than-human experiences is a cornerstone of memorial practice. As survivors of traumatic events, nonhuman elements have long been preserved in, even added to, memorial landscapes for their representational capacities to “say what cannot be said.” Beyond their mobilization as passive symbols, the plants themselves also exert a “creative presence” that equally shapes memorial sites, wherein ecologies of memory are negotiated and coconstituted through human and nonhuman lives. In foregrounding ecologies of “9/11” memory and memorialization, this essay draws on more-than-human approaches that emphasize how both human and nonhuman matter and memory emerge from and transform each other in and around lower Manhattan. At the World Trade Center, both human and nonhuman experiences of violence and violation are implicated in the “ecologies of memory” preserved and curated at the site. Focusing on ecologies of 9/11 commemoration, we argue that spatially fixed narratives of trauma obfuscate the environmentally diffuse human victims of the September 11th terror attacks, as well as how nonhuman actors coconstitute, contradict, and transform these memorial spaces. We argue that these memorial spaces employ the affective power of nonhuman actors to reproduce exclusionary narratives of cultural trauma, while obscuring very real environmentally diffuse human victims and ongoing harms, domestically and abroad. As a result of these negotiations, divergent forms of “slow violence” are rendered visible within the memorial landscape.

Patterns of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth Among Adolescents After the Wenchuan Earthquake in China: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) often coexist in the survivors of traumatic events. The current study examined the coexisting patterns of PTSD and PTG using latent profile analysis in a sample of 591 adolescent survivors of the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effects of traumatic exposure on specific coexisting patterns. A three-class solution characterized by a growth group (39.6%), a low symptoms group (10.3%), and a coexistence group (50.1%) fitted the data best. Members of the low symptoms group were more likely to be male, odds ratio (OR) = 2.67, 95% CI [1.48, 4.81]; and adolescents in the coexistence group were more likely to be older, OR = 1.22, 95%CI [1.09, 1.37], and to have had experienced serious indirect exposure, OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.02, 1.12], and posttraumatic fear, OR = 1.20, 95% CI [1.11, 1.31].

Look to the Crisis Actors

Look to the Crisis Actors Meredith Conti Tragedy. Travesty. Circus. Burlesque. Commentators have plumbed the depths of popular theatre history in hopes of describing Donald Trump’s administration and the corresponding sociopolitical climate of a bruised, divided nation. These Trump-as-spectacle narratives—in which the president is variously depicted as ringmaster, puppet, Shakespearean tyrant, or melodramatic villain—and the progressive handwringing they inspire fittingly gesture toward the “smoke-and-mirrors” politics of an aspiring autocrat. However, they also operate on simplistic or imprecise definitions of theatricality and performativity that equate both terms with inauthenticity, treachery, or vainglory.1 Trump and his supporters also engage with and organize around notions of vigilant public spectatorship in a hyper-performative age, although to different ends. Certainly, the campaign’s routine allegations of “fake news” presuppose that journalists script fictional events and impersonate principled reporters in order to deceive an increasingly credulous public. On the far end of the conservative spectrum, a faction of conspiracy theorists have weaponized antitheatrical biases by recasting the victims and survivors of traumatic events as duplicitous and paid “crisis actors.” However, the work of student-activists emerging from one such trauma, the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, demands that we reevaluate and reposition the notion of crisis acting. In the wake of the shooting, a group of Parkland students, many of them members of the school’s drama club, documented, narrated, and politicized their collective trauma through a multimodal performance of survivorship and activism that was no less genuine because of its performativity. Indeed, the self-described “dramatic” students sparked the coalescing of a visible and persuasive youth-led gun-control movement, one that models how to organize efficiently and communicate widely, how to acknowledge privilege and practice inclusionary activism, how to take up space traditionally occupied by adults, and how speak truth to power.2 David Hogg conducted [End Page 439] and filmed hushed interviews with classmates during the school’s lockdown, the viral cell-phone footage of which is simultaneously raw in content and deliberate in intent. In her March for Our Lives speech, Emma González ritualized protracted silence as a means of memorializing the shooting’s victims, while unapologetically rejecting the codes governing protest speeches and the ubiquitous though insufficient “moment of silence.”3 And when their theatre teacher, Melody Herzfeld, received the 2018 Tony Award in Excellence in Theatre Education, the school’s drama club and choir students marked the honor by singing Rent’s “Seasons of Love” on the live telecast. The Parkland students anchor their gun-control activism in a precocious awareness—likely a product of their liberal education, arts training, and upbringings in a digitally saturated world—that the theatrical necessarily infuses the real. Parkland’s survivor-activists weathered accusations of being crisis actors—a claim that, in light of the teens’ involvement in theatre, struck a dissonant but reverberative chord. When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Parkland student Cameron Kasky his thoughts on the conspiracy, he cheekily replied, “Well, if you had seen me in our school production of Fiddler on the Roof, you would know that no one would pay me to act, for anything.”4 While using antitheatrical rhetoric to weaken outrage or sow seeds of doubt is not new, the purposeful rebranding of trauma survivors as paid actors has become increasingly popular during the last few years. This lie works in several interdependent ways. First, it exploits the same spectatorial anxieties (and pleasures) activated by Barnum’s famed humbugs and Houdini’s underwater escapes: it calls into question the perceivers’ ability to interpret fact from fiction. “You were hoodwinked,” it scolds. “Perhaps you are not as good of a judge of character as you believed.” Second, recasting trauma survivors as professional actors presupposes that there are many more deceptions at play within the event in question. Videos can be doctored, victims and perpetrators invented, evacuations staged, and news stories faked. Third and perhaps most importantly, in their cries of “It’s all pretend!,” conspiracy theorists attempt to disable or inhibit natural empathetic responses to human suffering. Tagging Parkland survivors as crisis actors insinuates that they are benefiting monetarily from...

Association between social support and recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder after flood: a 13–14 year follow-up study in Hunan, China

BackgroundPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent long-term psychiatric disorders among survivors of traumatic events. It is well established that social support has been related to the onset of PTSD after natural disasters. However, very little is known whether or not social support has had an influence on the recovery from the PTSD that was diagnosed after floods. This study, therefore, made a follow-up assessment of PTSD in flood victims 13–14 years after they were diagnosed with PTSD in 2000 to measure the prevalence rate of PTSD among them and identify the association between social support and their recovery from PTSD.MethodsVictims who had experienced Dongting Lake flood in 1998 and had been diagnosed as having PTSD in 2000 were enrolled in this study. A follow-up survey was done between the years 2013 and 2014 to diagnose the victims again of PTSD using the DSM-IV criteria. Social support and its three dimensions were measured using the Chinese version of Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), including objective support, subjective support and support utilization. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between social support and the recovery from PTSD after flood.ResultsOut of 321 subjects with prior PTSD, 51 (15.89 %) were diagnosed as still having PTSD. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the recovery from prior PTSD was significantly associated with social support (odds ratio (OR) =0.202, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI): 0.047–0.878), subjective support (OR = 0.236, 95 % CI: 0.080–0.694) and support utilization (OR = 0.245, 95 % CI: 0.071–0.844).ConclusionsThe prevalence rate of current PTSD indicates that natural disasters, such as floods, may affect the mental health of victims for a long time. Social support was significantly associated with the recovery from prior PTSD, especially subjective support and support utilization.

Preferences for trauma treatment: A systematic review of the empirical literature.

The prevalence of trauma histories and related psychological problems is high in general clinical settings, but little is known about trauma patient preferences for mental health treatment. The purpose of this article is to systematically review and synthesize the literature on treatment preferences in survivors of traumatic events. Studies were identified using comprehensive searches of PsycINFO, Medline, PubMed, Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases. Included in the review were articles published between January 1980 and September 2014, in English that reported patient preference of treatment for trauma related disorders in either clinical or nonclinical (e.g., analog) samples. The total number of individual participants was 6,091. Of the identified studies, 35 were quantitative and 6 were qualitative. Methodological concerns included the use of analog samples, small sample sizes, and the assessment of a limited number of treatment options (e.g., asking about only 1 type of psychotherapy or medication). Overall, participants expressed a preference for psychotherapy over medication and for talking about their trauma. Understanding and addressing trauma patient preferences may assist in improving treatment initiation as well as facilitate engagement, retention and outcome.

Writing Trauma, Writing Life in Chanrithy Him's When Broken Glass Floats

Abstract In “Writing Trauma, Writing Life in Chanrithy Him's When Broken Glass Floats,” I discuss Him's autobiography within the context of recovery narratives, where survivors of traumatic events use writing as therapy and healing. In my exegesis of the text, I demonstrate how not just Him's memory but also the history and culture of Cambodia are reclaimed in this recovery narrative, with Him somewhat paradoxically infusing her memoir, a genre that goes against the grain of Cambodian literary tradition with its focus on the self, with elements of Cambodian culture, history, and poetic structure. The result, I argue, is a text that is neither traditional Cambodian literature nor typical American immigrant literature. I conclude the essay by locating this emergent literature within the recent global boom in witness narrative and, more specifically, within the emergent discourse of Southeast Asian American studies.

Survivors of Traumatic Events in the Mediterranean: The Physical and Psychology Impacts and the Importance of Psychological Resilience and Post Traumatic Growth

Our global history has been exposed to widespread violence, armed conflicts, terrorism and natural disasters which are unpredictable and devastating due to their nature. According to The UN Refugee Agency, today one in every 122 people has been forced to flee their home due to these reasons, and more than half are children (UNHCR, 2015). According to a WHO and UNHCR report (2015) “adults and children affected by emergencies experience a substantial and diverse range of mental, substance use and neurological problems” (page i).

Vividness of general mental imagery is associated with the occurrence of intrusive memories

Background and objectivesIntrusive memories of traumatic events constitute a core feature of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the association of pre-traumatic factors with post-traumatic intrusive memories is still only poorly understood. The current study investigated the extent to which vividness of general mental imagery prior to an analogue stressor is positively associated with occurrence of intrusive images following such a stressor. MethodsSixty-seven participants were exposed to video material depicting the aftermath of serious road traffic accidents. Additionally, participants filled in questionnaires on mental imagery, affect, peri-traumatic processing style, and intrusive memories. ResultsVividness of mental imagery before the analogue stressor correlated positively with the amount, vividness, and emotional distress due to intrusive images shortly after the analogue stressor and on the subsequently five days. Importantly, mental imagery assessed pre-stressor was associated with intrusive memories independently of trait anxiety and depression as well as participants' emotional response to the video. Peri-traumatic data-driven processing was also related to intrusive memories but not to the vividness of pre-stressor mental imagery. LimitationsAn analogue design was used. Results need to be replicated in a prospective design with survivors of traumatic events according to DSM-IV criteria. ConclusionsThe findings indicate that high levels of vividness of general mental imagery may contribute to the development of intrusive imaginal memories following exposure to traumatic events.

Effects of rumination on intrusive memories: Does processing mode matter?

Background and objectivesExcessive rumination following traumatic or highly distressing experiences has been proposed to be an important maintaining factor of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, not all forms of repetitive thinking about a negative event appear to be dysfunctional. It has been suggested that the abstractness of thinking is critical for its symptom-maintaining effects. The present study tested this hypothesis using an experimental analogue design with participants who had experienced a recent negative life event. MethodsAfter a short symptom provocation task, participants (N=57) wrote about their negative experience in either an abstract-evaluative or a concrete-experiential way. Intrusive memories were assessed during the session and in the first 36h after the session. ResultsIn line with the expectations, participants in the abstract-evaluative condition showed less reduction of intrusive memories during the experimental session than those in the concrete-experiential condition, and showed a slower recovery in the 36h following the session. LimitationsAn analogue design was used. Therefore, results need to be replicated with survivors of traumatic events following DSM-IV. ConclusionsTaken together, the results support the idea that abstractness of thinking is responsible for the dysfunctional effects of rumination about a highly distressing or traumatic event.

The relation of clinical empathy to secondary traumatic stress

A growing body of empirical research shows that health professionals working with survivors of traumatic events may develop traumatic symptoms themselves. Empathy is one of the main risk factors associated with clinical competence and patient outcome. Seventy seven medical workers from emergency and intensive care units were surveyed to determine the presence of secondary traumatic stress and explore the distinct relations to sympathy and empathy. Sympathetic health professionals are most vulnerable. On the contrary, clinical empathy is not significantly related to traumatic symptoms.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Medical Students

Abstract There is growing clinical evidence that health professionals working with survivors of traumatic events may develop traumatic symptoms themselves. During their clinical practice, medical students are also at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress. 168 medical students were surveyed to determine the presence of secondary traumatic stress and explore the relations to personality factors and motivation. The findings support the need for specific training on trauma exposure and traumatic stress management in medical education. Assessment should be connected to prevention and intervention efforts.

Combining Clinical Studies and Analogue Experiments to Investigate Cognitive Mechanisms in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Research into cognitive mechanisms in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically comprises two types of studies. The first group of studies is conducted with survivors of traumatic events and assesses the association between PTSD and cognitive variables with questionnaires and/or information processing paradigms. In the second group of studies, healthy non-traumatized individuals are exposed to an analogue stressor (e.g., a stressful film) and cognitive variables of interest are usually experimentally manipulated to investigate their effects on analogue PTSD symptoms. This review illustrates how studies of trauma survivors and analogue studies with non-traumatized populations can be usefully combined. Two examples for this approach are presented: (1) research into the role of perceptual priming for trauma-related stimuli and (2) research into trauma-related rumination. The advantages and limitations of both types of studies are discussed and it is argued that a combination of both approaches is needed to investigate cognitive mechanisms in PTSD.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study of an Elite Rifle Shooter

While posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is most commonly associated with survivors of traumatic events (e.g., combat), PTSD can occur after any situation in which victims perceive that their life or safety is threatened. In sport, athletes often place themselves in dangerous situations and are also exposed to the same lifestyle dangers as the general population. The literature on PTSD among athletes is sparse, and consequently, it is possible that many (non-clinical) sport psychologists would fail to recognize the symptoms and may subsequently fail to refer the athlete to the appropriate professional for clinical assistance. In the following case study, we present an example of an athlete suffering from PTSD following a serious bicycle accident in which she sustained head and facial injuries. We briefly detail the nature of PTSD and discuss how sport psychology services can be implemented alongside a parallel clinical intervention program. Finally, we offer recommendations for practice when working with athletes with PTSD.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Primer for Trauma Surgeons

In 1980, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) officially became classified as an anxiety disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition. Since then, there has been increasing recognition that PTSD is a prevalent disorder that may have significant impact on the quality of life for survivors of traumatic events. More recently, methodologically sound research has begun to provide important insight into this disorder. The following review serves to provide the trauma surgeons information on PTSD in terms of its diagnosis, prevalence, risk factors, treatment strategies, and outcomes, with the goal of minimizing the sequelae of PTSD and maximizing postinjury quality of life.

A qualitative exploration of mental health professionals' experience of working with survivors of trauma in Sri Lanka

This study explored the struggles and rewards of trauma work and the notion that individuals are changed in some way by the work they do with survivors of traumatic events. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews with 12 mental health professionals working in Sri Lanka has shown these changes to have both an accumulated negative emotional impact but also to simultaneously contain positive, growth-promoting and personally satisfying aspects. There is a bias prevalent in the trauma literature towards focusing on the many negative aspects of the impact of working with survivors of trauma or surveying the moderating factors for managing secondary trauma. The present research, instead, uses the paradigm of adversarial growth to demonstrate that when mental health professionals rebuild their assumptive world in light of their experiences of working with survivors of trauma there are valuable opportunities for personal, and by implication, professional growth. This study is of a qualitative nature...