“Five key considerations for working with young traumatized children” by Dr. Alex de Young was one of our most popular blogposts last year. We know relatively little of young children’s recovery and of how we can help them. The field is rapidly moving forward however and one of its pioneers, Prof. Michael Scheeringa, has agreed to tell you more about his new CBT approach for very young children. Continue reading
Melynda Casement and Leslie Swanson have recently published an interesting meta-analysis on imagery rehearsal therapy. Find the summary below, with thanks to Georgina Johnstone*.
Sleep problems are a central component of posttraumatic stress, both in children and adults. Difficulty maintaining sleep is reported by up to 91% of people with PTSD, with 72% experiencing nightmares.
Imagery rehearsal (IR) therapy is more and more used to overcome these sleep problems. Although not all versions of IR employ exactly the same techniques, they all have a cognitive behavioral orientation and include these three elements: Continue reading
A few people have asked me what the cuddly monkey stands for on this blog and since it’s an important picture for me, I’d like to share its story.
When people finish their PhD in the Netherlands, they print it in book form and send it to colleagues, friends, and family. This practice has developed into a serious business and the books do a great job as ‘extended business cards’.
One of the toughest decisions in the publication process regards the cover (other people may argue the font, and a few may think that there are no tough decisions left after having finished a PhD manuscript ;-)). Continue reading
Australia has been struck by numerous bushfires in the past few weeks and will be seeing many more as the peak of the bushfire season is yet to come. How do professionals experience working in bushfire situations? Samara Wilson* has summarized a recent study for you.
Ranse and Lenson (2012) have looked into the diverse role nurses played in the aftermath of the Australian Black Saturday and Victorian bushfires in 2009. Nursing staff are often among the first to be involved with response and recovery efforts following disasters such as bushfires. However, nurses often feel they lack the necessary training to provide adequate support for the people they encounter in these extreme situations. Education for disaster scenarios is not standardized across Australian settings, with nurses experiencing varied amounts of training, and there is little research in this domain.
This study used in-depth telephone interviews with 11 nurses volunteering with St John’s Ambulance Australia who were involved in the Black Saturday and Victorian bushfires in 2009. The researchers looked at the roles nurses played in psychosocial support, coordination, and problem solving, and examined how these were influenced by the nurses’ prior education, training, and availability of resources.
Two broad themes emerged from the interviews. The first theme was ‘being prepared’: Continue reading
I wrote this blogpost for those involved in the tragedy in Newtown. A few days ago, it was sadly directly relevant again, for the survivors of the attacks in Boston. And today (18/4), it goes for the survivors in Texas. Please find resources below and let me know if you have any questions.
An extended version of this blogpost has been published on the Huffington Post.
With the storm of media attention for the terrible events and the enormous social media response, it may be difficult to tell what is evidence-informed advice and which are well-intended-but-ungrounded tips.
Therefore, below is a quick and limited overview of links that can be trusted: Continue reading
Trauma Recovery Lab 