ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre

In this article we introduce a Creative Arts in Psychotherapy (CAP) treatment protocol for children who have been traumatized, aiming to enhance their psychological wellbeing and strengthening positive development. The protocol combines principles of group dynamics and multimodal arts activities in order to facilitate healing through the three stages of the trauma recovery model; creating a safe space, telling the trauma story, and preparing the children to return to the community.

Novel pharmacotherapies that improve outcomes for individuals with stress-related psychiatric disorders are needed. The

neurohormone oxytocin (OT) is a promising candidate given its influence on the social–emotional brain. In this review, we

present an overview of evidence supporting OT’s utility for treating major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress

disorder.We first discuss endogenous OT, which research suggests is not yet a reliable biomarker of stress-related disorders.

The European Journal of Psychotraumatology is proud

to announce its first special issue focusing on the

neurobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder

(PTSD).

Since its inception, the journal has published

a number of papers on the neural mechanisms underlying

PTSD, including review articles on the biological

correlates of complex PTSD (Marinova &

Maercker, 2015), restoring large scale brain networks

in PTSD and related disorders (Lanius, Frewen,

Tursich, Jetly, & McKinnon, 2015), and pharmacological

This study confirms that the developmental stage of post-disaster psychosocial support planning and

delivery systems in Europe is associated with countries’ level of disaster vulnerability. Lower

vulnerability is accompanied by more evolved planning and delivery systems. Countries in north, west

and central regions have more developed planning and delivery systems and lower vulnerability levels

than those in the south, southeast and east. The highest proportion of variance in vulnerability is

Abstract

What you need to know

• When confronted with the death of a loved one, most people experience transient rather than persistent distress, and do not develop a mental health condition.

• Bereavement, specifically the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one is associated with an elevated risk for multiple psychiatric disorders.

• Consider prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in people with ongoing separation distress beyond the first six to 12 months of bereavement.

Abstract

Objective Parents bereaved by infant death experience a wide range of symptomatology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that may persist for years after the loss. Little research has been conducted on PTSD in fathers who have lost an infant. Mothers report most symptoms to a greater extent than fathers, but not much is known about other sex differences following infant death. Method...

During disasters, aid organizations often respond using the resources of local volunteer members from the affected population who are not only inexperienced, but who additionally take on some of the more psychologically and physically difficult tasks in order to provide support for their community. Although not much empirical evidence exists to justify the claim, it is thought that preparation,...