ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre

Background: To explore cognitive recovery during and after Narrative Exposure Therapy from the patient’s perspective, autobiographical material and interview responses were qualitatively
analyzed.

Method: Using a framework of cognitive development, patient-reported outcomes from four senior Dutch citizens (57–81 years of age) were examined. All participants reported multiple traumatic experiences, including adverse childhood experiences.

Background: Evidence-based treatment and age-specific services are required to address the needs of trauma-affected older populations. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) may present an appropriate treatment approach for this population since it provides prolonged exposure in a lifespan perspective. As yet, however, no trial on this intervention has been conducted with older adults from Western Europe.

Aims: Examining the efficacy of NET in a sample of older adults.

Introduction: If asylum applicants need to prove that they have been persecuted in their home country, expert judgment of the psychological and physical consequences of torture may support the judicial process. Expert medico-legal reports can be used to assess whether the medical complaints of the asylum seeker are consistent with their asylum account. It is unclear which factors influence medical expert judgement about the consistency between an asylum seeker’s symptoms and story, and to what extent expert medico-legal reports are associated with judicial outcomes.

The objective of this study was to study mental health, coping, and support after work-related adverse events among pediatricians. Physicians are frequently exposed to adverse events. It makes them at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety disorders. Besides the personal impact, physicians could pose a threat towards patients, as mental health problems are associated with medical errors. A questionnaire was sent to all members of the Pediatric Association of The Netherlands in October 2016. The questionnaire focused on adverse events, coping, and support.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. Measurement of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) allows retrospective assessment of HPA axis regulation over prolonged periods of time. Currently, research investigating HCC in PTSD remains sparse. Previous cross-sectional studies have included only civilian populations, although it is known that trauma type moderates associations between PTSD status and HPA axis function.

Disturbed grief, operationalized as persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD), correlates with yet differs from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. However, knowledge about temporal associations among these symptoms is limited. We aimed to enhance our understanding of the etiology of loss-related distress by examining temporal associations among PCBD, PTSD, and depression symptom levels. Dutch people (N = 172) who lost significant other(s) in a plane disaster completed questionnaires for PCBD, PTSD, and depression 11, 22, 31, and 42 months after the disaster.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment guidelines have unequivocally designated psychotherapy as a first-line treatment, despite well-documented neurobiological alterations in this disorder [1]. Even with psychotherapy, PTSD often remains chronic and severe. There is urgency to discover novel compounds and new treatment strategies for PTSD.

Background: A distinct grief-specific disorder is included in the ICD-11. Lack of clarity remains regarding whether different proposed diagnostic criteria capture similar or different diagnostic entities. Our aim was to examine the specificity of four proposed diagnostic criteria-sets for pathological grief in a population-based sample.

The authors regret that “β” in the abstract of the published article was written as “β−”. The corrected abstract is as follows. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused. 

Abstract

Background: Bereavement can precipitate different forms of psychopathology, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and posttraumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. How these symptoms influence each other is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the temporal relationship of symptoms of PGD and PTSD following bereavement.

Background: Persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD) is a disorder of grief that newly entered DSM-5. Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a disorder of grief included in ICD-11. No prior studies examined and compared the dimensionality, prevalence, and concurrent validity of both conditions among bereaved children.