Difficult to treat? : A comparison of the effectiveness of treatment as usual in refugees and non-refugees

Aims and method To examine treatment response in traumatised refugees, we compared routine outcome monitoring data (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire) of two refugee populations with those of individuals experiencing profession-related trauma who were treated at a specialised psychotrauma institute.

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Internet-based exposure and behavioral activation for complicated grief and rumination: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract: This study examined the effectiveness and feasibility of therapist-guided Internet-delivered exposure (EX) and behavioral activation (BA) for complicated grief and rumination. Forty-seven bereaved individuals with elevated levels of complicated grief and grief rumination were randomly assigned to three conditions: EX (N = 18), BA (N = 17), or a waiting-list (N = 12). Treatment groups received 6 homework assignments over 6 to 8 weeks.

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Brief eclectic psychotherapy for PTSD

Brief eclectic psychotherapy for PTSD (BEPP), developed during the 1980s and 1990s of the last century, has proven to be as effective as other trauma-focused treatments (Gersons et al. 2000; Lindauer et al. 2005; Bradley et al. 2005; NICE 2005; Bisson et al. 2013; Schnyder et al. 2011). What makes BEPP special is that it is a comprehensive treatment especially developed for PTSD in which effective elements from different psychotherapy schools have been integrated into a logical sequence.

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Longitudinal assessment of gender differences in the development of PTSD among US military personnel deployed in support of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan

Divergent findings from previous research examining gender differences in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among US military members deployed to the operations in Iraq or Afghanistan (recent operations) prompted this study utilizing a matching approach to examine whether risk for new-onset PTSD and PTSD severity scores differed by gender. US military members from the Millennium Cohort Study deployed in support of the recent operations were followed for approximately 7 years from baseline through 2 follow-up periods between 2001 and 2008.

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Treatment Outcome-Related White Matter Differences in Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disorder that has been associated with brain abnormalities, including white matter alterations. However, little is known about the effect of treatment on these brain alterations. To investigate the course of white matter alterations in PTSD, we used a longitudinal design investigating treatment effects on white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Diffusion tensor and magnetization transfer images were obtained pre- and posttreatment from veterans with (n=39) and without PTSD (n=22).

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Psychotherapies for PTSD: what do they have in common?

Over the past three decades, research and clinical practice related to the field of traumatic stress have developed tremendously. In parallel with the steady accumulation of basic knowledge, therapeutic approaches have been developed to treat people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related psychological problems. Today, a number of evidence-based treatments are available. They differ in various ways; however, they also have a number of commonalities.

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Trait rumination predicts onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder through trauma-related cognitive appraisals: A 4-year longitudinal study

Abstract

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An Integrated Model of Posttraumatic Stress and Growth

A number of recent models have examined cognitive predictors of posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth (S. Barton, A. Boals, & L. Knowles, 2013; J. Groleau, L. Calhoun, A. Cann, & G. Tedeschi, 2013; K. N. Triplett, R. G. Tedeschi, A. Cann, L. G. Calhoun, & C. L. Reeve, 2012). The current study examined an integrated model of predictors of distress and perceived growth in 194 college undergraduates. Domains covered included the roles of core belief challenge, event centrality, posttrauma cognitions, and event-related rumination.

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Association of Childhood Complex Trauma and Dissociation With Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Adulthood

This study replicates and extends prior research on the relationship of childhood complex trauma (CCT) and complex posttraumatic stress disorder (cPTSD) in adulthood, examining the role of psychoform and somatoform dissociation as a potential mediator. CCT, dissociation, and cPTSD were assessed in a large sample of adult psychiatric inpatients. Almost two thirds of participants reported having experienced CCT. Path analyses with bootstrap confidence intervals demonstrated a relationship between CCT, psychoform (but not somatoform) dissociation, and cPTSD.

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Psychological and social theories of PTSD

Psychological theories have been developed to explain why certain trauma survivors go to develop PTSD and others not. These theories try to capture what happens at the level of the trauma survivor's personal experiences, in terms of thoughts , memory, emotions, behaviours and underlying processes of which the person is unaware.

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