Sleep Disturbances Predict Later Trauma-Related Distress: Cross-Panel Investigation Amidst Violent Turmoil

Objective: Sleep disturbances, including trouble falling and remaining asleep and recurrent nightmares, are symptoms of posttraumatic stress. A growing body of literature indicates that sleep disturbance may also convey vulnerability for the continuation of other symptoms of posttraumatic stress, including fear, anxiety, and heightened arousal. However, longitudinal research, which could help understand how these relationships unfold over time, has been limited.

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Sleep structure and emotional memory processing in police officers and combat veterans with PTSD

Disturbed sleep is one of the key symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and may contribute to the genesis and maintenance of PTSD. Our previously published study*, executed in healthy subjects, suggests that adaptive changes occur in sleep architecture, after emotional experiences, that benefit emotional housekeeping and the attenuation of emotional responses to negative emotional experiences. Little is known, however, about the relation between sleep and emotional memory processing in PTSD.

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Responses to terrorism : can psychosocial approaches break the cycle of violence?

Why do responses to terrorist attacks often perpetuate cycles of deadly violence? Using the violence in Northern Ireland and Rwanda as case studies throughout, Part 1, The Context of Terrorism, looks at the psychological and social influences behind extremism, terrorism and conflict. Part 2, Reponses to a Terrorist Attack, examines the responses that can feed a cycle of violence and assesses a range of approaches for their success in ending violence.

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Resilience definitions, theory, and challenges: interdisciplinary perspectives

In this paper, inspired by the plenary panel at the 2013 meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Dr. Steven Southwick (chair) and multidisciplinary panelists Drs. George Bonanno, Ann Masten, Catherine Panter-Brick, and Rachel Yehuda tackle some of the most pressing current questions in the field of resilience research including: (1) how do we define resilience, (2) what are the most important determinants of resilience, (3) how are new technologies informing the science of resilience, and (4) what are the most effective ways to enhance resilience?

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PTSD in the military: special considerations for understanding prevalence, pathophysiology and treatment following deployment

Given the unique context of warzone engagement, which may include chronic threat, multiple and lengthy deployments, and loss, there is a need to understand whether and to what extent knowledge about PTSD derived from studies of civilian trauma exposure is generalizeable to the military. This special issue on PTSD in the military addresses a range of issues and debates related to mental health in military personnel and combat veterans.

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Rapid emotional processing in relation to trauma-related symptoms as revealed by magnetic source imaging

Traumatic stress leads to functional reorganization in the brain and may trigger an alarm response. However, when the traumatic event produces severe helplessness, the predominant peri-traumatic response may instead be marked by a dissociative shutdown reaction. The neural correlates of this dissociative shutdown were investigated by presenting rapidly presented affective pictures to female participants with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and comparing responses to a Non-PTSD control group

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Psychobiological correlates of rape in female adolescents

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Psychosocial safety climate moderating the effects of daily job demands and recovery on fatigue and work engagement

This study examined the role of schools' psychosocial safety climate (PSC) in teachers' psychological outcomes. We proposed that PSC would moderate the effects of teachers' daily job demands on their fatigue and work engagement, and also the effects of teachers' daily recovery on fatigue and engagement. Sixty-one Australian school teachers completed a diary that was repeated three times over the course of approximately 8 months.

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Pre-existing high glucocorticoid receptor number predicting development of posttraumatic stress symptoms after military deployment

Objective: The development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is influenced by preexisting vulnerability factors. The authors aimed at identifying a preexisting biomarker representing a vulnerability factor for the development of PTSD. To that end, they determined whether the dexamethasone binding capacity of leukocytes, as a measure of glucocorticoidreceptor (GR) number, before exposure to trauma was a predictor of development of PTSD symptoms.

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Prevalence and correlates of suicidal behavior among new soldiers in the U.S. Army: Results from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS)

Background: The prevalence of suicide among U.S. Army soldiers has risen dramatically in recent years. Prior studies suggest that most soldiers with suicidal behaviors (i.e., ideation, plans, and attempts) had first onsets prior to enlistment. However, those data are based on retrospective self-reports of soldiers later in their Army careers. Unbiased examination of this issue requires investigation of suicidality among new soldiers.

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