Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD who is a part of the Trauma Therapy Training Program offered by NICABM. takes a look at the four ways early life trauma can effect people later in life
Hiroaki Ono / AP
Ian de Terte, from the School of Psychology, specializes in vicarious trauma – where people are exposed to traumatic incidents through secondary means, such having personal involvement with victims or following news reports of devastating and tragic events.
This can apply to emergency workers, health practitioners and others dealing directly with the dead, the injured, the bereaved and other victims, but even those watching, reading and listening to the news can be just as much at risk, Mr de Terte says.
He says the phenomenon, also known as compassion fatigue, has similar symptoms to post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s through watching disaster coverage and listening to it over and over again, you’re at greater risk of developing symptoms similar to PTSD.” [continue reading…]
Talking through trauma after it’s happened will help, won’t it? It makes sense and sounds right for professionals to get in early and help us bear witness to our own trauma, doesn’t it?
Not necessarily…….
Floods, fires, cyclones and the anniversary of Black Saturday. Psychological debriefing is a technique aimed at helping us process traumatic events, so the emotional scars can heal not harm. To some the approach is discredited, ineffective and may even do damage – to others it can still have important role. Beyond the controversy, where does the field stand today?
Finding a strong evidence base for what to do in the hours and days after a traumatic event – a flood, a cyclone, a fire, a bombing, a rape, a car accident – presents significant challenges. Chaos doesn’t lend itself to systematic investigation and randomised controlled trials, for obvious reasons.
The issue of All in the Mind is a discussion about the potential benefits and drawbacks of ‘trauma debriefing’ and immediate psychological treatment link to podcast and also check out the blog To debrief or not to debrief after disasters? Updating an old debate
After exposure to extreme life stresses, what distinguishes the individuals who do and do not develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? A new study, published in the October 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, suggests that it has something to do with the way that we control the activity of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region thought to orchestrate our thoughts and actions. [continue reading…]
