Traumatic events are quite common; the lifetime prevalence is 71% among the general population.

Children who can no longer grow up with their own parents are often placed in foster care. The out-of-home placement and prior traumatic experiences may cause insecure attachment relationships and consequently child behavior difficulties. The foster child’s puzzling behavior may in turn challenge foster parents, especially when they have difficulties with setting boundaries and emotional engagement. Because of these problems, many foster care placements (20-50%) end prematurely, moving the children to another foster family or residential care facility.

The studies presented in the current dissertation cover three well known risk factors for mental health problems: genetic vulnerability (the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism), childhood trauma, and cognitive biases. We took both a disorder-specific approach (depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): DSM-5; APA, 2013) and a more transdiagnostic approach to assess these risk factors for mental health problems.

Background: The use of remotely delivered early intervention after trauma may prevent and/or reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Our research group evaluated a novel three-week therapist-guided internet-delivered intervention based on prolonged exposure (Condensed Internet-Delivered Prolonged Exposure; CIPE) in a pilot trial. The results indicated that the intervention was feasible, acceptable and reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress at post-intervention compared to a waiting-list condition.