2016 : a year of records

Happy New Year to our readers around the world – some of them it just started, for others it will soon begin – from the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) and the team at Taylor and Francis. According to Johan Norberg (here), a popular Swedish author, historian and expert in economic globalization, our progress has been unprecedented.

Prevalence of use of erectile dysfunction medication by Dutch military personnel between 2003 and 2012

Use of ED medication can be seen as a marker for ED. ED is associated with increasing age, exposure to traumatic events and physical injuries in military veterans. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of use of ED medication in Dutch military personnel in the period 2003–2012 and to assess its association with age and psychotropic medication use. Data on dispensing of ED medication, age and co-medication with psychotropic medication of all Dutch military personnel between 2003 and 2012 were collected.

Reduced Freezing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Patients while Watching Affective Pictures

Besides fight and flight responses, animals and humans may respond to threat with freezing, a response characterized by bradycardia and physical immobility. Risk assessment is proposed to be enhanced during freezing to promote optimal decision making. Indeed, healthy participants showed freezing-like responses to threat cues. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients are characterized by hypervigilance and increased threat responsiveness.

The Trauma of Facing Deportation

In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children have fallen unconscious after being informed that their families will be expelled from the country.
Georgi, a Russian refugee who came to Sweden with his family when he was five years old, could talk at length about the virtues of the Volvo. His doctor described him as “the most ‘Swedeified’ in his family.” He was also one of the most popular boys in his class. For his thirteenth birthday, two friends listed some of the qualities that he evoked: energetic, fun, happy all the time, good human being, amazingly kind, awesome at soccer, sly.

The relation between sleep and violent aggression

Good sleep is important for our emotional stability and aggression control. Although most people do not become violent after a period of poor sleep, this may be different for certain vulnerable individuals. Forensic psychiatric patients may represent a group of such individuals. We studied patients who committed a crime, often violent in nature, but are not completely held accountable for this due to a mental disorder. They usually get sentenced by the court to follow treatment.

How Well Do We Understand the Long-Term Health Implications of Childhood Bullying?

Abstract: Once dismissed as an innocuous experience of childhood, bullying is now recognized as having significant psychological effects, particularly with chronic exposure. Victims of bullying are at risk for a number of psychiatric disturbances, and growing evidence suggests that the pathophysiological effects of bullying, as with other forms of trauma and chronic stress, create additional health risks. We review the literature on the known sequelae of bullying, including psychiatric and physiological health effects, with a focus on implications for the victim.

Invisble wounds : the impact of six years of war on the mental health of Syria’s children

For the past six years, children in Syria have been bombed and starved. They have seen their friends and families die before their eyes or buried under the rubble of their homes. They have watched their schools and hospitals destroyed, been denied food, medicine and vital aid, and been torn apart from their families and friends as they flee the fighting. Every year that the war goes on plumbs new,  previously unimaginable depths of violence against children, and violations of international law by all sides.

Trauma-informed care for children in the ambulance : international survey among pre-hospital providers

Abstract
Background: Pre-hospital providers, such as paramedics and emergency medical technicians, are in a position to provide key emotional support to injured children and their families.

Moral forces : interpreting ethical challenges in militairy operations

The studies presented in this dissertation reveal three broad types of ethical challenges during military operations at an individual level that are caused by social interactions of military personnel, regardless of rank. The first encompasses ethical challenges related to encounters with other individuals from another culturel background, like the local population. The second comprises work-related interactions such as those with fellow team members. The third are ethical challenges as a result of interactions with the home front.

Trauma-Focused Treatment in Psychosis

Traumabehandeling bij mensen met een psychose is effectief en leidt niet tot verslechtering, zoals jarenlang werd gevreesd door professionals in de psychiatrie. Dit blijkt uit het promotieonderzoek van David van den Berg. “De zorg dat deze groep patiënten hun behandeling niet aankunnen blijkt onterecht.”

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