Implementation of Evidence-Based Treatment for PTSD

There is relatively little adoption of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) into routine practice. Dissemination of EBTs or practice guidelines through traditional educational activities (e.g., formal continuing education programs) has limited impact on day-to-day clinical practice. Implementation science is an emerging field that has developed as the gap between research and practice has been identified across a variety of health care settings. The field is concerned with the study of methods to promote the integration of research findings into health care practice and policy.

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Embodied simulation in exposure-based therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder - a possible integration of cognitive behavioral theories, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis

Exposure to the trauma memory is the common denominator of most evidence-based interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although exposure-based therapies aim to change associative learning networks and negative cognitions related to the trauma memory, emotional interactions between patient and therapist have not been thoroughly considered in past evaluations of exposure-based therapy. This work focuses on recent discoveries of the mirror-neuron system and the theory of embodied simulation (ES).

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Suicide risk among 1.3 million veterans who were on active duty during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars

Purpose: We conducted a retrospective cohort mortality study to determine the postservice suicide risk of recent wartime veterans comparing them with the US general population as well as comparing

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Guilt is associated with acute stress symptoms in children after road traffic accidents

Background: Although previous research has consistently found considerable rates of acute stress disorder (ASD) in children with accidental injuries, knowledge about determinants of ASD remains incomplete. Guilt is a common reaction among children after a traumatic event and has been shown to contribute to posttraumatic stress disorder. However, its relationship to ASD has never been examined.

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Mental health professionals’ attitudes toward patients with PTSD and depression

Background: To date, mental health professionals’ attitudes toward posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compared to other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia or depression, have rarely been studied.
Objective: We assessed mental health professionals’ attitudes toward patients with PTSD compared to patients suffering from depression.

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Reliability, factor structure, and validity of the German version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children in a sample of adolescents

Background: The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C) is the most widely used self-report scale to assess trauma-related symptoms in children and adolescents on six clinical scales. The purpose of the present study was to develop a German version of the TSC-C and to investigate its psychometric properties, such as factor structure, reliability, and validity, in a sample of German adolescents.
Method: A normative sample of N=583 and a clinical sample of N=41 adolescents with a history of physical or sexual abuse aged between 13 and 21 years participated in the study.

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Less is more? Assessing the validity of the ICD-11 model of PTSD across multiple trauma samples

Background: In the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the symptom profile of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was expanded to include 20 symptoms. An alternative model of PTSD is outlined in the proposed 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) that includes just six symptoms.

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Interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder in psychiatric practice across Europe: a trainees’ perspective

Background: With an annual prevalence of 0.9–2.6%, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is very common in clinical practice across Europe. Despite the fact that evidence-based interventions have been developed, there is no evidence on their implementation in clinical practice and in national psychiatric training programmes.
Objective and method: The Early Career Psychiatrists Committee of the European Psychiatric Association conducted a survey in 23 European countries to explore implementation of evidence-based interventions for PTSD and training options.

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Factor structure of the Parent Emotional Reaction Questionnaire: analysis and validation

Background: Although many children experience violence and abuse each year, there is a lack of instruments measuring parents’ emotional reactions to these events. One instrument, the Parent Emotional Reaction Questionnaire (PERQ), allows researchers and clinicians to survey a broad spectrum of parents’ feelings directly related to their children’s traumatic experiences.

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Therapist and client perspectives on the alliance in the treatment of traumatized adolescents

Objective: Client ratings of the therapeutic alliance are an important predictor of outcome in the treatment of traumatized adolescents and adults, but less is known about the therapists’ perspective. The aim of this study was to investigate how therapists’ ratings relate to the adolescents’ perspective, how individual therapist and adolescent ratings relate to change in symptoms and treatment satisfaction, and whether discrepant alliance perspectives impact treatment outcome.

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