ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre

Studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report volume abnormalities in multiple regions of the cerebral cortex.

Study Objectives: Sleep problems are common, serving as both a predictor and symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with these bidirectional relationships well established in the literature. While both sleep phenotypes and PTSD are moderately heritable, there has been a paucity of investigation into potential genetic overlap between sleep and PTSD.

Background: Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) and augmented reality exposure therapy (ARET) are digitally assisted psychotherapies that potentially enhance posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment by increasing a patient’s sense of presence during exposure therapy. This study aimed to systematically review current evidence regarding the efficacy of VRET and ARET as PTSD treatment.

Data routinely collected in the emergency department after trauma have the potential to predict those at risk of later PTSD, which shows promise for computational psychiatry.

People bereaved through road traffic accidents (RTAs) are at risk for severe and disabling grief (i.e., pathological grief). Knowledge about needs and use of bereavement care, including psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and support groups is limited. This study charted (correlates of) the needs and use of bereavement care in RTA bereaved people. Furthermore, while online grief treatment seems effective, it is unknown whether it is perceived as acceptable. Accordingly, we examined the acceptability of online treatment.

Experiencing a sudden/violent loss of a significant other is a risk factor for developing persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD), depression, and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive therapy (CT) combined with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) might be an effective treatment for bereaved people with PCBD, depression, and/or PTSD symptoms after sudden/violent loss. We tested the effects of CT + EMDR versus waitlist controls in disaster-bereaved people.

Epigenetic differences may help to distinguish between PTSD cases and trauma-exposed controls. Here, we describe the results of the largest DNA methylation meta-analysis of PTSD to date. Ten cohorts, military and civilian, contribute blood-derived DNA methylation data from 1,896 PTSD cases and trauma-exposed controls. Four CpG sites within the arylhydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) associate with PTSD after adjustment for multiple comparisons, with lower DNA methylation in PTSD cases relative to controls.

Background
Interpersonal trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with severe mental illness (SMI) negatively affect illness course. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) is effective in vulnerable patient groups, but its efficacy and applicability has not been studied in out-patients with SMI.

Aims
We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and applicability of NET in SMI on changes in PTSD, dissociation, SMI symptoms, care needs, quality of life, global functioning and care consumption. 

The need for research to advance scientific understanding must be balanced with ensuring the rights and wellbeing of participants are safeguarded, with some research topics posing more ethical quandaries for researchers than others. Moral injury is one such topic. Exposure to potentially morally injurious experiences can lead to significant distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and selfinjury. In this article, we discuss how the rapid expansion of research in the field of moral injury could threaten the wellbeing, dignity and integrity of participants.

Introduction:
Societies invest substantial amounts of resources on disaster preparedness of hospitals. However, the concept is not clearly defined nor operationalized in the international literature.

Aim:

This review aims to systematically assess definitions and operationalizations of disaster preparedness in hospitals, and to develop an all-encompassing model, incorporating different perspectives on the subject.

Methods: