We air our feelings and dirty laundry on television talk shows. Many Americans rely on advice from a therapist to get them through daily crises and boost our self-esteem. The news media constantly relays stories of people "at risk". And our lunch conversations are sprinkled with the phrases "scarred for life," "emotionally fragile", and "How did I get here." Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com.eg%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Drpv1cI7MI34C%26hl%3Den

This article examines the biblical narrative relating to the Hebrew Patriarch Jacob (Israel) in the book of Genesis for evidence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as defined by the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). A close literal reading of the text supports Jacob's provisional diagnosis with chronic PTSD following the disappearance and apparent death of his favorite son, Joseph. T

The contributors to this volume are keenly aware that mental health professionals, while well trained to identify and treat psychopathology, are insufficiently informed or cognizant of human resilience, of how, and of what, intrapsychic, interpersonal, and psychosocial factors are operative in adaptive coping with and recovering from trauma. These authors, several of whom themselves were subjected to severe trauma, address the matter of resilience from the vantage point of their own personal and clinical experiences.

This comprehensive core textbook analyzes how resilient people navigate the troubled waters of life’s traumas and identifies how learning about resilience may help cultivate this quality in other, less resilient, people. Author Morley D. Glicken explains the inner self-healing processes of resilient people and helps individuals training in the helping professions to learn to use these processes in working with their clients.

instruments for use in measuring the effects of war, disaster and trauma on children

resilience in children or adults who were exposed to isolated and potentially traumatic events

Research by the Gaza Community Mental Health Project

Holmes's idea is that playing Tetris after a shocking event would take up the same mental resources that would normally be used to consolidate future flashbacks. In doing so, the notoriously addictive game could act as a "cognitive vaccine" against PTSD and provide an ironic example of a video game actually being good for you...

Since its premises were destroyed by Israeli bombs on 30 December the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) – a member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) – has been unable to provide care to an ever increasing number of traumatised civilians. Another IRCT member centre in Gaza, the Jesoor Organization, is also unable to operate due to the security situation.

Ehlers & Clark (2000)

The PDS is a 49-item self-report measure recommended for use in clinical or research settings to measure severity of PTSD symptoms related to a single identified traumatic event. The PDS is unique in that it assesses all of the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD (i.e., Criteria A – F) and inquires about the past month (time frame can be adjusted for different uses). Thus, in addition to measuring the severity of PTSD symptoms (Criteria B, C, & D), it also inquires about the experience of a Criterion A traumatic events, about duration of symptoms (Criterion E), and the effects of symptoms on daily functioning (Criterion F).

The PCL is a 17-item self-report measure of the 17 DSM-IV symptoms of PTSD. Respondents rate how much they were “bothered by that problem in the past month”. Items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 5 (“extremely”). There are several versions of the PCL. The original PCL is the PCL-M (military). The PCL-M asks about problems in response to "stressful military experiences." The PCL-S (specific) asks about problems in relation to an identified "stressful experience." The PCL-C (civilian) is for civilians and is not focused on any one traumatic events. Instead it asks more generally about problems in relation to stressful experiences.

PTSD Checklist

From 1965 to 1973, when the Arab-Israeli conflict was at its peak in Egypt, he worked in psychiatry in military hospitals, serving at front line posts in Sinai and producing a thesis on the effects of the stress of military service on young men.

A special feature about post traumatic stress disorder, which is very timely after the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader. It's an extraordinary story of the lessons learned from the war in Bosnia, treating the psychological trauma in adolescence.

a brain protein called neuropeptide S is involved in erasing traumatic responses to adverse memories by working on neurons inside the amygdala where those memories are stored.

Epidemiological survey conducted between 1997 - 1999 among survivors of war or mass violence (aged >16 years) who were randomly selected from community populations in Algeria (n=653), Cambodia (n=610), Ethiopia (n=1200), and Gaza (n=585).

Men deployed for 13 months or more in the past 3 years were more likely to get PTSD, severe alcohol problems. PTSD associated with mismatch between expectations about duration of deployment and reality.

The increasing use of antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs among U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2006 the suicide rate among active service members was 17.3 per 100,000, compared to 12.8 in 2005 and 10.8 in 2004. In 2001 the rate was 9.8 per 100,000.

damn useful and just in time. Lots of neuropsychiatric assessment tools for people with head trauma.

Number of papers per year with the term PTSD in title or abstract and list of most freq. authors

This page contains several tests of Traumatic Stress & Secondary Traumatic Stress. These tests may be printed and used for clinical and research purposes.

The European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, established in 1993, is the European network for professionals in the field of psychotraumatology.

I find closed Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that is not a concussion a spurious diagnosis.