Mental health on the move : short review on migration and mental health

The first studies on migration and mental health focused primarily on immigration in the Unites States in the beginning of the 20th century. Higher levels of mental health problems or “insanity” were observed among migrants as compared to host populations. Selective migration of mentally ill people was understood to explain this difference. Although hypomanic traits such as impulsiveness, extraversion and risk seeking behaviour may seem to predispose individuals to emigrate, the so-called selective migration hypothesis has never been empirically supported.

Read more

The factor structure of complex posttraumatic stress disorder in traumatized refugees

Background
The construct of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) has attracted much research attention in previous years, however it has not been systematically evaluated in individuals exposed to persecution and displacement. Given that CPTSD has been proposed as a diagnostic category in the ICD-11, it is important that it be examined in refugee groups.
Objective
In the current study, we proposed to test, for the first time, the factor structure of CPTSD proposed for the ICD-11 in a sample of resettled treatment-seeking refugees.

Read more

Dimensional structure of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress symptoms in Spanish trauma victims

 

Read more

Degrading traumatic memories with eye movements : a pilot functional MRI study in PTSD

Background: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During EMDR, the patient recalls traumatic memories while making eye movements (EMs). Making EMs during recall is associated with decreased vividness and emotionality of traumatic memories, but the underlying mechanism has been unclear. Recent studies support a “working-memory” (WM) theory, which states that the two tasks (recall and EMs) compete for limited capacity of WM resources.

Read more

Rumination in posttraumatic stress and growth after a natural disaster : a model from northern Chile 2014 earthquakes

Background: Traumatic experiences, such as natural disasters, produce multiple and serious impacts on people. Despite the traditional focus on negative consequences, in many cases there are also positive consequences, such as posttraumatic growth. Tedeschi and Calhoun proposed a model of posttraumatic growth that emphasizes the role of rumination after the basic beliefs breakdown due to the occurrence of a traumatic experience.

Read more

“I can’t tell whether it’s my hand” : a pilot study of the neurophenomenology of body representation during the rubber hand illusion in trauma-related disorders

Background: Early traumatic experiences are thought to be causal factors in the development of trauma-related dissociative experiences, including depersonalization and derealization. The rubber hand illusion (RHI), a well-known paradigm that measures multi-sensorial integration of a rubber hand into one’s own body representation, has been used to investigate alterations in the experience of body ownership and of body representation. Critically, however, it has never been studied in individuals with trauma-related disorders.

Read more

How to support staff deploying on overseas humanitarian work : a qualitative analysis of responder views about the 2014/15 West African Ebola outbreak

Background: Responding to health crises overseas can be both rewarding and distressing for staff involved.
Objective: We interviewed UK staff involved in the 2014/15 Ebola response to identify experiences that positively or negatively affected them.
Method: We conducted qualitative telephone interviews with 30 Public Health England (PHE) staff and 21 non-governmental organisation (NGO) staff who had deployed to West Africa.

Read more

Investigating epigenetic consequences of early-life adversity : some methodological considerations

Stressful and traumatic events occurring during early childhood have been consistently associated with the development of psychiatric disorders later in life. This relationship may be mediated in part by epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, which are influenced by the early-life environment. Epigenetic patterns can have lifelong effects on gene expression and on the functioning of biological processes relevant to stress reactivity and psychopathology.

Read more

PTSD : from neurobiology to pharmacological treatments

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by symptoms of re-experience, avoidance, and hyperarousal that can arise immediately or many years after exposure to a traumatic event and injury. Although extensive research has been done over the past 30 years, the etiology of PTSD remains largely unknown. Several neurobiological systems have been implicated in the pathophysiology and vulnerability for developing PTSD; however, first-line pharmacotherapies are limited.

Read more

A review of research on moral injury in combat veterans

The moral injury construct has been proposed to describe the suffering some veterans experience when they engage in acts during combat that violate their beliefs about their own goodness or the goodness of the world. These experiences are labeled transgressive acts to identify them as potentially traumatic experiences distinct from the fear-based traumas associated with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Read more

Pages