Objective:  To examine how parental responses following pediatric injury may influence their child’s posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).

Methods: Heart rate (HR) from 82 pediatric injury patients was measured during emergency medical services (EMSs) transport and following hospital admission. Twelve-hour urinary cortisol levels were assessed upon admission. Child PTSS and parental PTSS and general distress were assessed 6 weeks and 6 months after trauma.

We examined the frequency of trauma types reported in a cohort of service members seeking treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and compared symptom profiles between types. In this observational study, 999 service members (9.2% women; Mage = 32.91 years; 55.6% White) were evaluated using a standardized assessment procedure to determine eligibility for clinical trials. Participants were evaluated for DSM-IV-TR-defined PTSD using the PTSD Symptom Scale–Interview; all participants reported a Criterion A event.

The report paints a multifaceted picture with many good initiatives and promising practices. It also shows major gaps and challenges, many of which remain unaddressed. It reveals that measures taken in one policy field often affect the degree to which individuals are able to enjoy their rights in other fields.

In addition to that, the report identifies two critical moments, which require much more attention:

Background: Families applying for asylum have often experienced multiple potentially traumatic events and continue to face stressors during their resettlement. Studies have indicated that traumatic events can negatively impact parenting behaviour and child development. A secondary preventive multi-family intervention programme, called Family Empowerment, was developed. Family Empowerment aims to strengthen parenting skills and prevent exacerbation of emotional problems in asylum-seeker families.

Background

Pharmacotherapy is often used to target symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but does not provide definitive treatment, and side effects of daily medication are often problematic. Trauma-focused psychotherapies are more likely than drug treatment to achieve PTSD remission, but have high dropout rates and ineffective for a large percentage of patients. Therefore, research into drugs that might increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy is a logical avenue of investigation.

Abstract

Our children and grandchildren are shaped by the genes they inherit from us, but new research is revealing that experiences of hardship or violence can leave their mark too.

The focus of this study is the WHO’s mhGAP-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG)2.0 (2016), an evidence-based tool and guideline to help detect, diagnose andmanage the most common mental disorders, designed for use by non-specialistsglobally but particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This research is astarting point in tracing the multiple‘doings’of mhGAP-IG–connectingquestions of how it is‘done’and what does it‘do’–to the living histories andwider global mental health assemblages that make the tool possible and shape itsglobal circulation.

In 1991, Karestan K. was a recent college graduate and Peace Corps volunteer who arrived in a village in Niger eager to help local women start small businesses. When her sister came to visit during Christmas, the two decided to travel north to Agadez, a city in the Sahara.