A Comprehensive Look at PTSD, Care Seeking, and VA Use Among Veterans Military service is strongly associated with an increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but who among those with probable PTSD are seeking care? This study provides a comprehensive snapshot of Veterans Health Administratoin (VHA) use and care seeking among veterans with probable PTSD from 2013 to 2016.  ..read more

Using registries and electronic health record data to study posttraumatic psychopathology In this blog, we discuss use of registry and electronic health record (EHR) data—considered forms of “big data”—for studying PTSD and other psychiatric conditions in populations after trauma. We discuss strengths and weaknesses of applying these data for research, and give three applied examples from our work, which were presented as part of our symposium at the 2023 ISTSS Annual Meeting ..read more

Browse Diversity and Multicultural Issues articles Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people experience higher levels of adverse experiences within their families and during childhood compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers (Austin, Herrick, & Proescholdbell, 2015; 2016). More recent research highlights both emotional and physical neglect as common adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) reported by SGM adults (Bond et al., 2021; Schnarrs et al., 2019). Gender diverse adults face additional disparities in emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect compared to sexually d ..read more

Browse Clinical Issues and Treatment articles The overlap between eating disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well documented. Systematic reviews and meta analyses suggest that anywhere from 18% to 25% of individuals with eating disorders (EDs) also experience PTSD, and 12% of people with PTSD endorse eating disorder symptoms (Ferrell et al., 2022). EDs are associated with one of the highest morbidity and mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder (van Hoeken & Hoek, 2020). Because of this medical risk, clinicians often describe feeling unsure of how best to manage ED beh ..read more

Grief vs. Depression: Are they related to the bereaved or the deceased? We do not know why, after the loss of a loved one, some people develop depression, while some others may experience a prolonged grief disorder. This blog discusses our recent research on the differential correlates of depression and prolonged grief symptoms in a population-based sample. We found that depressive symptoms are primarily associated with the characteristics of the bereaved, whereas prolonged grief symptoms are primarily associated with the characteristics of the deceased.  ..read more

Browse Trauma and the Arts articles During of a conversation with a children’s librarian I asked about her favorite books. Her top choice was, The War That Saved My Life, which turned out to be (with or without its sequel),  not only a beautifully told story, but a work that could be a supplemental text for a course on psychological trauma ..read more

Browse Clinical Issues and Treatment articles Alcohol is a primary determinant of health disparities facing North American Indigenous (NAI) peoples of the United States and Canada, including American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other Native Pacific Islander peoples in the United States, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and other Aboriginal peoples in Canada, among others. Rates of alcohol use among NAI peoples—while lower than or comparable to other racial and ethnic groups (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2021)—are distinguished by more severe alcohol-relate ..read more

Browse Clinical Issues and Treatment articles This updated systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that BMOIs may be effective for patients with PTSD in reducing PTSD symptoms and secondary symptoms of depression and sleep problems. Therefore, treatment options should include BMOI’s and more high quality studies should shed more light on specific effects and working mechanisms ..read more

Browse Trauma and the Arts articles I was not born mute. My silence is not genetic. Something jammed up inside me and I stopped speaking - when and why, I no longer remember. I listen to what people say, but I cannot answer them. In my mind, I speak to the shadows that populate my world, to the wind and the rain - and to the cat living outside my door. The cat is the one who insists on the separation, not me.   So begins “Even the Heavens Tell Lies,” a story written by Blume Lempel. Blume Lempel was born in 1907 in Khorostkov (now located in Ukraine), moved to Paris from where she fl ..read more

Browse Student and Early Career articles Trauma exposure prior to incarceration is nearly ubiquitous among prisoners. In a sample of 592 incarcerated men, 99% endorsed experiencing at least one lifetime traumatic experience prior to incarceration, with 59% scoring above the clinical threshold for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the PCL-5 (Wolff et al., 2014). Meta-analyses on international samples show prevalence of PTSD ranged from 0.1% to 27% for male and from 12% to 38% for female prisoner populations (Baranyi et al., 2017). This stands in stark contrast to PTSD rates in the general ..read more