Special issue : Trauma occurs in social contexts

With this special issue that presents highlights of the biennial psychotrauma conference in Europe with contributions from experts inside and outside Europe, we hope to boost future research on the role of the broader social context in which trauma occurs.

This offers many possibilities for novel research topics and methods. To name a few, big data studies may examine the use of social media, and specific characteristics of communication between individuals early after mass trauma by tracking smartphone data. Studies may also apply frameworks and variables from related disciplines such as sociology or economics, for instance, human value orientations (cf. Maercker & Hecker, 2016) to study the development of trauma-related psychological distress within larger communities or to compare countries.

We may need more research into social circumstances for PTSD treatment, like this study showing that EMDR may be effective in reducing PTSD and depression symptoms among Syrian refugees located in a refugee camp (Acarturk et al., 2015).

An exciting new research area opens up, with many possibilities for collaboration between researchers in the field of trauma and beyond