International Handbook of Human Response to Trauma


Book Description

In 1996, representatives from 27 different countries met in Jerusalem to share ideas about traumatic stress and its impact. For many, this represented the first dialogue that they had ever had with a mental health professional from another country. Many of the attendees had themselves been exposed to either personal trauma or traumatizing stories involving their patients, and represented countries that were embroiled in conflicts with each other. Listening to one another became possible because of the humbling humanity of each participant, and the accuracy and objectivity of the data presented. Understanding human traumatization had thus become a common denomi nator, binding together all attendees. This book tries to capture the spirit of the Jerusalem World Conference on Traumatic Stress, bringing forward the diversities and commonalties of its constructive discourse. In trying to structure the various themes that arose, it was all too obvious that paradigms of different ways of conceiving of traumatic stress should be addressed first. In fact, the very idea that psychological trauma can result in mental health symptoms that should be treated has not yet gained universal acceptability. Even within medicine and mental health, competing approaches about the impact of trauma and the origins of symptoms abound. Part I discusses how the current paradigm of traumatic stress disorder developed within the historical, social, and process contexts. It also grapples with some of the difficulties that are presented by this paradigm from anthropologic, ethical, and scientific perspectives.




Wiley Concise Guides to Mental Health


Book Description

The new, quick reference for understanding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder The Wiley Concise Guides to Mental Health: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder uses clear, highly accessible language to comprehensively guide the reader through posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related issues. This concise, informative reference provides a complete overview of the history of the field, diagnosis, treatment, research, emerging trends, and other critical information about PTSD. Examining both theory and practice, the text offers a multifaceted look at the disorder, outlining biological, cognitive, psychosocial, psychodynamic, integrated, and other relevant approaches. Like all the books in the Wiley Concise Guides to Mental Health Series, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder features a compact, easy-to-use format that includes: Vignettes and case illustrations A practical approach that emphasizes real-life treatment over theory Resources for specific readers such as clinicians, students, or patients In addition to the fundamentals of treatment, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder covers some of today's most important and cutting-edge issues in the field, such as war and terrorism; PTSD in children, adolescents, and families; professional and ethical issues; and relevant positive psychological findings. This straightforward resource is admirably suited for a wide variety of readers including students and practicing mental health professionals, as well as first responders, military personnel, and other individuals that regularly deal with traumatic situations and their aftermath.




Systemic Interventions for Collective and National Trauma


Book Description

Systemic Interventions for Collective and National Trauma explains the theoretical basis for understanding collective and national trauma through the concept of systems theory, and gives ways of implementing systems theory in interventions at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Particular attention is given to the use of socio-political and cultural aspects of interventions with victims, as well as to the ethical codes that social workers and other mental health professionals need to integrate in their work with collective/national trauma. Separated into two distinct parts on theory and practice, this volume is appropriate for practitioners as well as students in advanced courses.




School-Based Multisystemic Interventions For Mass Trauma


Book Description

- Presented into two clear and understandable sections: theoretical/empirical and intervention programs - Both authors have immense experience dealing with disaster and mass trauma, both in Israel and in the United States - Serves as both a reference tool and as a toolkit that can be used by all important players involved, which include mental health personnel, teachers, and parents




Handbook of Traumatic Loss


Book Description

The Handbook of Traumatic Loss adopts a broad, holistic approach that recognizes traumatic loss much more fully as a multidimensional human phenomenon, not simply a medical condition. Initial chapters build a foundation for understanding traumatic loss and explore the many ways we respond to trauma. Later chapters counterbalance the individualistic focus of dominant approaches to traumatic loss by highlighting a number of thought-provoking social dimensions of traumatic loss. Each chapter emphasizes different aspects of traumatic loss and argues for ways in which clinicians can help deal with its many and varied impacts.




Honoring Differences


Book Description

Wars, violence, and natural disasters often require mental health interventions with people from a multitude of ethnic groups, religions, and nationalities. Within the United States, those who care for the victims of trauma often assist individuals from a variety of immigrant cultures. Moreover, many aspiring mental health professionals from other countries seek training in the United States, creating an additional need for a broad cultural awareness within educational institutions. Honoring Differences deals with the treatment of trauma and loss while recognizing and understanding the cultural context in which the mental health professional provides assistance. Training in the cultural beliefs that may interact with traumatic reactions is essential, both to assess traumatic response accurately and to prevent harm in the process of assessing and treating trauma. Various cultures within the United States and several international communities are featured in the book. Each culturally-specific chapter aims to help the caregiver honor the valued traditions, main qualities, and held beliefs of the culture described and prepare to enter the community well-informed and well-equipped to intervene or consult effectively. Further more, the book provides information about issues, traditions, and characteristics of the culture, which are essential in moving through the phases of post-trauma or other mental health intervention. Mental health professionals, trauma specialists, missionaries, and organizations that send consultants to other nations, will find HonoringDifferences essential reading. It will also be a resource to those who are interested in cultural differences and in honoring the belief systems of other cultures and nations.




The Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma is the only authoritative reference on the scientific evidence, clinical practice guidelines, and social issues addressed within the field of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. Edited by the leading experts in the field, you will turn to this definitive reference work again and again for complete coverage of psychological trauma, PTSD, evidence-based and standard treatments, as well as controversial topics including EMDR, virtual reality therapy, and much more.




Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services


Book Description

This volume synthesizes material and evidence on how best to plan and deliver child and adolescent mental health care services, providing a one-stop reference guide for all those with responsibilty for these services. It includes a concise update on the most common child psychiatric conditions.




Trauma Transformed


Book Description

Whether it's physical, psychological, social, historical, or ongoing, trauma is a universal experience, and this book provides professionals with the approaches necessary for successful and empowering interventions across the trauma spectrum. Part one examines the steps individuals take to heal their traumas. Nicolas survives an attack by his own dog; Tay rebuilds her life after years of incest; Claire speaks out about being molested by a program participant at her mental health clinic; and Erma copes with the shattering memories of childhood abuse. Part two focuses on interpersonal dynamics. Frank is held accountable for his violence toward his wife; Erin and her mother confront the reality of bullying and victimization in schools; Beth faces discrimination because of her sexual orientation; and staff members at a transitional housing shelter deal with the death of a client. Part three recounts stories of resilience and healing at the social and community level. Salome and her family process the historical trauma of the massacre of her American Indian ancestors. A group of boys who became fatherless after 9/11 respond to experiential ways of coping with their grief. Jennifer and Kim live daily with the social trauma of poverty. Three Liberian families survive torture, flight, refugee camps, and resettlement. Amory struggles to find meaning and move on from his experience as a combat veteran, and the story of Angelina Batiste epitomizes the loss and resilience of those who lived through Hurricane Katrina. Trauma Transformed provides insight into the psychological and spiritual resources practitioners need to help victims move forward and improve upon their circumstances. Readers will also learn to strengthen their sense of self to prevent secondary trauma.




Traumatic Pasts in Asia


Book Description

In the early twenty-first century, trauma is seemingly everywhere, whether as experience, diagnosis, concept, or buzzword. Yet even as many scholars consider trauma to be constitutive of psychological modernity or the post-Enlightenment human condition, historical research on the topic has overwhelmingly focused on cases, such as World War I or the Holocaust, in which Western experiences and actors are foregrounded. There remains an urgent need to incorporate the methods and insights of recent historical trauma research into a truly global perspective. The chapters in Traumatic Pasts in Asia make just such an intervention, extending Euro-American paradigms of traumatic experience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, exploring how these new domains of research inform and enrich earlier scholarship.