Prejudice and stigma against people with mental illness can be seen throughout history. The worst instance of this prejudice was connected to the rise of the eugenics movement in the early 20th century. Although the Nazi German T-4 program of killing people with mental illness was the most egregious culmination of this philosophy, the United States has its own dark eugenics history-nearing a slippery slope all too similar to that of the Nazis.

Background Exposure to ongoing political violence and stressful conditions increases the risk of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in low-resource contexts. However, much of our understanding of the determinants of PTSD in these contexts comes from cross-sectional data. Longitudinal studies that examine factors associated with incident PTSD may be useful to the development of effective prevention interventions and the identification of those who may be most at-risk for the disorder.

CONTEXT: Most studies examining the clinical impact of disability benefits have compared aid recipients with people who never applied for benefits. Such practices may bias findings against recipients because disability applicants tend to be much sicker than never-applicants. Furthermore, these studies ignore the outcomes of denied claimants. OBJECTIVE: To examine long-term outcomes associated with receiving or not receiving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability benefits for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the most common mental disorder for which veterans seek such benefits.

Objective: We conducted a long-term follow-up (LTFU) assessment of participants from a randomized controlled trial comparing cognitive processing therapy (CPT) with prolonged exposure (PE) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Competing hypotheses for positive outcomes (i.e., additional therapy, medication) were examined. Method: Intention-to-treat (ITT) participants were assessed 5-10 years after participating in the study (M = 6.15, SD = 1.22). We attempted to locate the 171 original participants, women with PTSD who had experienced at least one rape.

In deze dissertatie staan de psychosociale gevolgen voor getroffen etnische minderheden van de Vuurwerkramp te Enschede centraal. Er wordt gebruik gemaakt van drie methoden van onderzoek: een vergelijkend vragenlijstonderzoek, een kwalitatief onderzoek en een huisartsenmonitor. De gepresenteerde studies in deze dissertatie beschrijven of er inderdaad verschillen zijn in posttraumatische problemen tussen etnische groepen.

Psychische gevolgen na een natuurramp worden niet alleen bepaald door de traumatische ervaring zelf en de manier waarop individuen omgaan met de gevolgen van de ramp. Zij worden ook bepaald door de destructieve gevolgen van rampen op de context en de sociale gemeenschap waarin getroffen mensen wonen. Het is belangrijk deze complexe factoren te betrekken in rampen-onderzoek. Dit proefschrift wil aantonen dat het kruisvlak tussen individuele variabelen en determinanten in de rampgetroffen context bepaalt of mensen psychische problemen ervaren na een ramp.

Background: Recent meta-analyses have raised concerns about the replicability of gene x environment interactions involving the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) in moderating the associations between adverse life events and mental disorders. Aims: To use data gathered over the course of a 30-year longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort to test the hypothesis that the presence of short (&lsquo,s&rsquo,) alleles of 5-HTTLPR are associated with an increased response to life stress.

INTRODUCTION: Care for battle casualties demands special skills from surgeons and anesthesiologists. The experiences of Dutch military surgeons and anesthesiologists that deployed to South Afghanistan provided an opportunity to evaluate predeployment training and preparation of military medical specialistsMETHOD: A survey was conducted among all surgeons and anesthesiologists (n = 40) that deployed to South Afghanistan between February 2006 and November 2010.

Participants in this study were Jewish Holocaust survivors (N = 89) divided into groups depending on the type of trauma they had experienced. As compared to the control group, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were clearly more persistent in the trauma group. The most salient PTSD symptoms (primarily avoidance and increased arousal) were noted in those who survived hiding on the Aryan side. Men were more at risk for reexperiencing trauma than women, who were more prone to avoidance or numbing of general responsiveness.

Een artikel over de Nederlandse rampencultuur. Een cultuur die zekerheid zoekt in plaats van improvisatie: er wordt veel geïnvesteerd in opleiden, trainen, oefenen, coördinatiestructuren en lessen trekken uit eerdere gebeurtenissen.