Instruction video: Twitter for academics
Would you like to explore what Twitter has to offer but just don’t know how to start?
Here is a video with simple instructions and tailored tips for those interested in mental health and/or trauma research, including how to join tomorrow’s journal club:
It covers how to:
- Create a Twitter account
- Fill out your profile and send your first tweet
- Find trauma & PTSD experts to follow
- Use hashtags, with examples specific for research and mental health
- Join the #traumaresearch journal club via Twitter or Tweet chat
Let me know if any questions come up, I’m more than happy to help (@EvaAlisic).
The #traumaresearch Journal Club
The #traumaresearch journal club will take place Februari 23rd, 10pm GMT (which corresponds to 5pm New York, 23u Amsterdam, Friday 24th 9am Melbourne). We will discuss a recent systematic review on the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for children with PTSD and topics of interest for future chats. Students, academics, clinicians, all are welcome.
Free interactive online training: Supporting the mental health of veterans and families
This Thursday, a 14-session training series on diagnosis and treatment of veterans will start. It has an interesting line-up of presenters and explicitly takes families into account. The US based program is accessible for clinicians all over the world. Find your local time for the training here.
The description of From the War Zone to the Home Front:
“One in three U.S. service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan will experience signs of combat stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. Only 50% receive their health care through the VA. Other vets and their families will seek care in community settings by primary care and community mental health clinicians.
The Home Base Program in collaboration with the Veteran Administration’s National Center for PTSD is providing this free, CME-certified educational series to assist clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of the silent wounds of war in returning veterans and their families. This live, on-line, interactive educational series is led by nationally recognized faculty with expertise in diagnosing and treating PTSD and TBI with traditional and complementary evidence-based therapy. The faculty will also address the needs of military families and review how to recognize and treat the emotional stress present in spouses, parents, and children of veterans with PTSD or TBI.”
The program is intended for a wide range of professionals, including primary care and community mental health providers, pediatricians, college and university health professionals, psychiatric nurses, and social workers.
An overview of the schedule:
For more information and free registration, see the From the War Zone to the Home Front website.
For those interested in trauma research discussions on Twitter:
We will chat about systematic reviews on the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for children with PTSD this Thursday 10pm GMT (5pm New York, 23u Amsterdam, Friday 9am in Melbourne). The hashtag to find the chat is #traumaresearch. More information about how to read and how to join will be available tomorrow.
The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for children with PTSD
This week, we discuss a recent meta-analysis by Kowalik et al, which will also be input to a live Twitter journal club / chat. If you would like to join or just want to read the comments, have a look at #traumaresearch on Thursday February 23rd 10pm GMT (= 5pm New York, 23h Amsterdam, Friday 9am Melbourne).
The Twitter journal club is in its trial period: if you have a preference, let me know whether you want it to be focused on child & adolescent mental health more broadly or on trauma recovery in particular, @EvaAlisic.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is probably the most used, or at least most recommended, treatment for children with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As I am quite fond of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the new meta-analysis on the efficacy of trauma focused CBT by Kowalik and colleagues quickly grabbed my attention. Although (and because?) I have a few critical questions regarding the publication, I think it merits attention from researchers and clinicians.
What is CBT?
CBT is a psychological treatment that addresses ‘associations between stimuli and conditioned fear responses, the influence of environmental factors on symptom expression, and cognitive and affective regulation.’ Cohen and colleagues, who have developed trauma focused CBT, use the PRACTICE acronym to describe its elements. It requires a little bit of fantasy (two P’s!) and it seems to have changed slightly over the years but it gives a succinct overview:
Parental treatment component, including parenting skills
Psychoeducation
Relaxation and stress management skills
Affective expression and modulation skills
Cognitive coping skills
Trauma narrative and cognitive processing of the child’s traumatic experiences
In vivo desensitization to trauma reminders
Conjoint child-parent sessions
Enhancing safety and future development
Selective set of studies?
The purpose of the review by Kowalik et al. was to calculate an estimate of the overall efficacy* of CBT in the treatment of PTSD in children. Randomized controlled trials were selected if they compared CBT to an active control group (e.g., supportive unstructured psychotherapy, nondirective supportive treatment, and child-centered therapy). The authors used somewhat particular search terms: PTSD OR posttraumatic stress disorder OR sexual abuse. The latter was a surprise; why include sexual abuse explicitly but not violence, disaster, road traffic accident, traumatic bereavement, etc? It would be interesting to see whether those terms would result in additional studies and potentially different effect sizes. Read more 
Upcoming conferences on trauma and recovery
A number of interesting conferences take place in the next few months. They all focus on trauma exposure, traumatic stress and mental health. And for three of them submission deadlines are approaching rather quickly…
Those described below are just a fraction of what is organized all over the world (apologies for the Australian bias 
). If you’re interested, the ISTSS website has an extensive list of events.
1) World Congress on Traumatic Stress
This conference is always in always in some fantastic, exotic location… and it’s once every two years, if I’m right, so put it in your agenda for 2014. This year it’s May 23-26 in México City, México.
Theme: “Seeing what is in front of us: Addressing trauma in medical, emergency and mental health settings.”
Keynote speaker is Duncan Pedersen from Canada (McGill). He focuses on social and cultural aspects of mental health, in particular after organized violence.
Almost all members of the ISTSS leadership team will give lectures during the conference because they combine their conference attendance with board meetings. Therefore, the conference has a nice line-up of international speakers, including
- Daniel Mosca (Argentina) – Disaster Intervention in At-risk Populations from a Cultural and Social Perspective: From Katrina to Santa Fe
- Yoshiharu Kim (Japan) – Psychological Impacts of the Japan Great Eastern Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Plant Accident
- Grete Dyb (Norway) – The Value of Outreach and Screening of Youth Exposed to the Terror Attack in Oslo 2011
- Elana Newman (USA) – Traumatic Stress and Journalism: Research and Clinical Directions
- Jonathan Bisson (UK) – Psychological First Aid Read more
Pink elephants and trauma recovery
Don’t think of a pink elephant.
It’s a classic example of how thought suppression works: counterproductively. You will think of a pink elephant. Wegner and colleagues have shown that it is very difficult to suppress a thought. If you try, it’s very likely that you will think about it more than if you don’t.
This problematic nature of mental control doesn’t apply to fancy experimental settings only. It is thought to play an important role in posttraumatic stress symptoms. Survivors who try harder to avoid thoughts about (or images of) a terrifying moment such as a car crash, are more prone to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Avoidance of trauma-related thoughts makes it more difficult to challenge unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma (see the cognitive model by Ehlers & Clark).
Recently, researchers have started to look at the role of thought suppression in children. The first studies show strong relations with posttraumatic stress symptoms (see also the meta-analysis by Trickey et al that I recently discussed). Understanding which cognitive processes take place in the development of PTSD in children is essential for our design of helpful interventions. Read more
Ouch… and… let’s try again
Twitter is a fantastic tool to build a prospering (trauma) research community. At least, that’s what I tried to make you believe .
The main arguments? It’s an ideal platform for sharing new publications, brainstorming on how to solve difficulties in your research, and finding support.
Two beautiful examples of active communities are #phdchat and #hcsmanz (although the latter is not focused on research per se, it does discuss it).
I received many positive reactions on the post (and on it’s succesor How to start with Twitter when you are a trauma researcher), including a number of people who joined Twitter (yes!).
Ouch.. Read more
The first trauma research Tweet chat
Are you a researcher interested in traumatic stress and recovery? Come join the first trauma research Tweet chat!
It takes place at the end of February, depending on your preferences (cast your vote here!).
This post gives you all the details on how to participate. Read more
8 Tips for Developing Preventive Interventions for Children Exposed to Acute Medical Events
This is a guest post by Dr. Meghan Marsac. Meghan is a behavioral researcher and the Director of Training at the Center for Injury Research & Prevention at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Meghan has recently led the development of Coping Coach, a web-based video game for children experiencing acute traumatic stress, and The Cellie Coping Kit, a toolkit for children with chronic diseases and their families.
As a field, we have made significant progress in developing models and identifying key risk factors associated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children who experience acute medical traumatic events (see these key publications). Additionally, we have given much attention to the evaluation of preventive interventions. For example, our team has recently evaluated After The Injury, a web-based intervention for parents of injured children.
However, a standard process for the development of preventive interventions is less clear, and therefore this post provides you with some starting points. Below is a list of tips to consider and questions to ask when beginning to develop a new preventive intervention:
1. Identify the problem and purpose of the intervention
- What is the problem that needs addressed?
- What specific behaviors are the focus of the intervention? Read more
How to start with Twitter when you conduct trauma research
Last week I argued that academics studying psychological trauma should join Twitter because it helps & builds the research community.
This week I explain how to start with Twitter and I invite you for a live Tweet chat.
A few examples of interesting tweets in the past few days:
Setting up
Setting up your Twitter account is easy. Go to www.twitter.com and within 3 minutes you’re up and running Read more
4 Meta-analyses of predictors of PTSD in children: An overview
One of the main questions of child trauma psychologists is which children are most vulnerable for PTSD after a traumatic event. The answer would help us to develop interventions that address causes of distress and to focus on the children most in need.
Recently, a fourth meta-analysis on predictors of posttraumatic stress in children has been published, which makes it interesting to compare findings and methods (yes, in that order, for busy people). It gives clinicians insight in risk factors for PTSD and it shows academics what needs to be studied in the next few years.
These are the four meta-analyses I know of, published over a period of 6 years: Kahana et al. (2006), Cox et al. (2008), Alisic et al. (2011), and Trickey et al. (2012). In a nutshell, the reviews combined correlational effect sizes to see which risk factors are associated with children’s posttraumatic stress symptoms. Their methods varied, which I will summarize below, but the findings converge to a number of interesting conclusions. Read more
Trauma and PTSD researchers should tweet
Last week, I tried to compile a list of trauma and PTSD experts who are part of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) or affiliated societies. It turned out that we have only a handful of active twitterers, while the societies have thousands of members. At the last annual ISTSS conference in November, we had only two people tweeting.
It’s a missed opportunity. Twitter is a fantastic tool to build a prospering research community (see e.g., Mollett et al., 2011; Reinhardt et al., 2009;). I’ll give you some examples:
While I was searching for tweeters for my list, @raulpacheco started the #myresearch hashtag, asking people to present their research topic or question in about 120 characters. It went viral. Moreover, it was highly informative, entertaining, and instantly led to new connections and exchanges between researchers all over the world. Marc Smith made a beautiful graph of it. Read more
Sleep difficulties in children exposed to trauma
In 2012, the blog weekly features a summary or discussion of a recent scientific article on traumatic stress in children. This week a summary of Hall Brown et al. (Oct 2011) on sleep in children after Hurricane Katrina.
In childhood it is normal to have some nighttime fears. Most children outgrow them. However, when fears continue to exist, they endanger sleep quality and daily functioning. One situation in which this may happen, is after traumatic exposure.
We know that adult mental health problems and sleep difficulties are related after trauma but we have only very limited data on children. Therefore, Hall Brown and colleagues studied the role of sleep problems in the maintenance of posttraumatic stress symptoms in youths who experienced Hurricane Katrina. Read more
Trauma and PTSD experts on Twitter
Are you looking for experts on traumatic stress, PTSD, or trauma recovery on Twitter? Below is a list of active ‘twexperts’ who are members of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) or affiliated national societies. To follow the whole list at once, including a few less active members, see this link.
Hopefully, more and more ISTSS members will become enthusiastic social media users soon. Twitter is a fantastic platform for making connections, brainstorming, and sharing information. Would you like to start with Twitter? Find some good advice here (Twitter’s tips) and here (LSE Impact Blog’s tips).
Experts who have tweeted at least once in the past two months, with their Twitter bio: Read more
Does intervening early after trauma help children recover?
In 2012, the blog weekly features a summary or discussion of a recent scientific article on traumatic stress in children. This week: Kramer & Landolt (Dec 2011) about early interventions.
When children are exposed to a single traumatic event such as a car accident, a violent incident, or a disaster, many of them will recover naturally. However, a significant minority has difficulty getting back on track: 10 to 30% of the exposed children develop chronic symptoms, including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Can we intervene early to help children recover? Systematic reviews on the efficacy of early single interventions in adults have shown either no or even harmful effects so far. In particular psychological debriefing, where survivors are asked to ventilate their emotions, cause concerns. For example, Rose et al. (2009) concluded in their meta-analysis that compulsory psychological debriefing of adults should cease. Read more
Christmas wishes and plans for the New Year
Dear all,
Since the holidays are approaching, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
In 2012, this blog will continue to provide you with information about trauma recovery, focusing on practical implications of recent scientific findings. Among other things, it will feature (child) trauma experts from around the world as guest bloggers.
Most important; this blog is set up to serve you. It doesn’t make sense if we write blogposts that are not what you’re looking for. Therefore, I would like to ask you: What do you want to see on this blog? What would be interesting, important, fun, helpful topics? Read more
Trauma recovery after the attack in Liège / Luik
For everybody who is involved in the shocking events in Luik/Liège and wants to know more about trauma recovery and how to help: a quick guide to some good, informative websites (en Français il y a un blog de la Croix-Rouge de Belgique, voor Nederlandstalige websites zie onderaan deze pagina) and a few tips. Read more
Does physical activity make a difference?
When looking at trauma recovery in children, we tend to search for solutions in the domain of therapy: cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, pharmacotherapy and the like. However, we may also be able to help in other ways. Read more
Man’s search for meaning
On my flight to Melbourne yesterday I re-read Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. It’s such an impressive book that I would just like to share a number of quotes instead of trying to describe or analyze it. To give you a little bit of background: Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived three years in concentration camps during the Second World War. He wrote this book from both a personal and a professional perspective, and reflects on our attitude toward life’s challenges and opportunities.
Highlights of the ISTSS conference in Baltimore
Last week’s conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Society was a success. A lively conference with a number of excellent and thought-provoking presentations, where some insights kept on popping up. For me, the highlights of the conference with regard to children and youth all related to interventions:
New, large studies on early interventions
Researchers from Switzerland and Australia presented the outline of large, rigorous studies to measure the effect of early interventions for children who have been accidentally injured. These studies will lead to insights into the effectiveness of a short intervention and a longer one. Read more
3 online training programs about traumatic stress and interventions: high quality, free, and convenient
I recently saw a Dutch poster about a conversation going something like
“How are you doing? “
“Busy, busy”
“That’s not what I wanted to know”,
It commented on people’s tendency to always be, or feel, busy-busy-busy. This busy-ness also gets in the way of professional development it seems. When we interviewed teachers about which medium they preferred to learn about trauma in children, a workshop or training turned out not to be feasible. Several teachers explained that they wouldn’t be able to fit a workshop in their (busy) schedule, even though they were enthusiastic about attending one. Also for the clinical professionals around me, it seems to be an eternal struggle to make time for whole days of training.
Now, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution to busy-ness (though I try to figure it out for myself with some zen/mindfulness). But I do see interesting options which make training more convenient. In the trauma domain, we have a number of high-quality, free online training programs that I am not sure everybody is aware of. Read more
Parents tell about their children’s recovery from trauma
A child has been injured in an accident. Or has witnessed a suicide. Or has been assaulted on the way home from school. What is parents’ story when such a thing happens? How do they describe the recovery of their child? And what can we learn from their experiences?
We spoke in-depth with the parents of 25 children who had been through varied types of trauma, including serious road traffic accidents, witnessing murder, sexual assault, the loss of a sibling, and an explosion at home. The events had happened at least 6 months previously and the children were between 8 and 12 years old at the time of the interview.
Even though our questions mainly regarded the child’s recovery, parents talked a lot about their own role in this recovery. In particular, they spoke about two elements of their parenting. The first concerned becoming aware of the child’s needs. Parents tried to figure out what would be normal reactions to the event and to what extent their child showed those or more severe reactions. They used various strategies, including: Read more
PhD scholarships at Monash University
There is an interesting opportunity for young trauma researchers: to do a PhD at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). Monash Injury Research Institute is a multidisciplinary center, doing research on both the prevention and outcome side of trauma, which may lead to creative cross-overs. Particularly interesting for researchers in psychotraumatology are the topics adolescent refugee mental health, child abuse, disaster resilience, and injury outcomes.
For the full text of the advertisement, see below. Beware that the deadline for expressions of interest is 12 October. Read more
Predictors of PTSD in children and adults
We know that traumatic events occur quite often. We also know that most people are resilient, even though many survivors experience some distress in the direct aftermath of an event. Only a minority will develop longer-term stress symptoms. What are their characteristics? Who is ‘at risk’ after trauma? If we know the answer, we can target mental health care services to the survivors who are most in need.
In the last 30 years, more and more research has been published on predictors of posttraumatic stress. Mainly in adults, but also in children. Read more
ISTSS conference about trauma
The annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies is approaching. Early November the Mariott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore will be crowded with psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, journalists, policy makers, victim advocates, counselors, and many others. This year’s theme is “Social Bonds and Trauma Through the Life Span”. The meeting may not be in the most beautiful city of the US (although, even Baltimore has its hidden charms), but it looks like there will be quite a number of interesting presentations.
Judith Herman, a pioneer in traumatic stress research, will give a keynote lecture. Her book Trauma and Recovery was probably the only textbook that really touched me during my studies. As always during the ISTSS conferences, there will be an overwhelming amount of research presentations and posters. One that I look forward to regards a meta-analysis on the relation between parent functioning and child posttraumatic stress, by Morris and Delahanty. It will be interesting to hear what they think about the ways parents influence their children; and where we can intervene. Another one that sounds promising is a symposium on challenges and successes in evaluating community-based interventions for children (Jaycox and colleagues). Read more
To ask or not to ask children about trauma, that’s the question
Actually, I don’t think it’s the question. My impression from the research literature, clinicians’ comments, and my own experience is that it is not harmful when we discuss the topic in a respectful, open-minded way. On the contrary, I think it’s very important to ask children about traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress reactions. But we should prove it. And if I turn out to be wrong, we should know as well. Read more
