Empowerment as a tool for a healthy resettlement: a case of new African settlers in South Australia

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of empowerment and the role that it plays in fostering community participation, community integration and in enabling a healthy re-settlement of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants who have recently arrived in Australia from Sub Saharan Africa.

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Engaging with violent Islamic extremism : local policies in western European cities

The terrorist attacks at the start of the new millennium shook the world. In Western countries, the new threat of ‘home-grown’ Islamic terrorism has directed the authorities’ attention towards local Muslim communities. Islamic terrorism is generally seen as a sign of the lack of integration of these communities. Authorities therefore often opt for preventive policies in which the engagement with Muslim organisations and spokespersons plays a significant role. However, this engagement comes with its own problems and dilemmas.

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Entangled or 'extruded' Histories? Displacement, national refugees, and repatriation after the Second World War

This article uses 'national refugees' in Italy after 1945 as a starting point for broader reflections on the classifications of displaced persons (DPs) employed in both international refugee law and historical accounts of the refugee in the postwar world. After 1945, Italy became temporary home to many persons displaced by the war and the consolidation of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe. At the same time, Italy had its own refugees forced to leave territories (including African colonies) lost with the collapse of fascism.

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EMDR therapy and adjunct approaches with children : complex trauma, attachment, and dissociation

This book offers developmentally appropriate advanced tools for using EMDR therapy with children with complex trauma, attachment wounds, dissociative tendencies and compromised social engagement. The feature of this book is the use of strategies from other therapeutic approaches into a comprehensive EMDR treatment such as: Play Therapy, Sandtray Therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), Theraplay and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy.

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EMDR therapy: An overview of current and future research

IntroductionEMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment approach widely recognized as a frontline treatment for trauma. Research over the past decade has addressed the utility of the eye movements, mechanism of action and comparisons with other forms of therapy.Literature and clinical findingsMore than two-dozen randomized controlled trials (RCT) demonstrate the positive effects of EMDR therapy with trauma victims. Comparisons with trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) indicate comparable effects sizes.

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Duration of assertive community treatment and the interpretation of routine outcome data

Objective: Statistical inferences based on routine outcome monitoring data are susceptible to biases. Because this process may be influenced by differences in attrition and treatment duration, we wished to gain an insight into the relationship between treatment duration and clinical outcome. Method: We enrolled 569 assertive community treatment (ACT) team patients.

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Dissociation, PTSD, and Substance Abuse: An Empirical Study

Few studies have examined the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder, and dissociation. We studied 77 women with current PTSD and substance dependence, classified into high- versus low-dissociation groups per the Dissociative Experiences Scale. They were compared on trauma- and substance-related symptoms, cognitions, coping skills, social adjustment, trauma history, psychiatric symptoms, and self-harm/suicidal behaviors. We found the high-dissociation group consistently more impaired than the low-dissociation group.

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Differences between effects of psychological versus pharmacological treatments on functional and morphological brain alterations in anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder: A systematic review

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, are associated with both functional and morphological brain changes that commonly involve the 'fear network' including the (medial) prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala. Patients suffering from anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder often show excessive amygdala and reduced prefrontal cortex functioning. It is, however, still unclear whether these brain abnormalities disappear or diminish following effective treatment.

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Direct and indirect assessment of explanatory models of illness

Patients’ self-reports of explanatory models (EMs) are sensitive to distortions, particularly as a result of social desirability, uncertainty towards one’s own beliefs, and ethnic disparities with the interviewer. In contrast, reaction-time-based indirect measures are thought to be less sensitive to such factors. This article reports on two studies that applied direct (interview) and indirect (reaction-time-based association task) measures of EMs.

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Disaster exposure as a risk factor for mental health problems, eighteen months, four and ten years post-disaster - a longitudinal study

Background: Disaster experiences have been associated with higher prevalence rates of (mental) health problems. The objective of this study was to examine the independent relation between a series of single disaster experiences versus the independent predictive value of a accumulation of disaster experiences, i.e. a sum score of experiences and symptoms of distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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