Tag Archives: PTSD

Predictors of PTSD in children and adults

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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. Continue reading →

Former bomb disposal operator writes about posttraumatic stress

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I just read the book “Extreme risk – A life fighting the bombmakers”. Chris Hunter describes his (training towards the) life as a British bomb disposal operator in it. He served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan, amongst others. The book is a good read, and clearly shows the psychological effects of the war tragedies Hunter has witnessed. Although apparently he continued to function well enough to work, he did suffer from quite severe symptoms of posttraumatic stress for some time. One of his biggest losses concerned his wife and two daughters; he divorced, at least partly due to his symptoms and subsequent alienation. Three quotes I think were interesting: Continue reading →

Go and collaborate

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Child trauma researchers should collaborate more. That was one of the messages of the meta-analysis my colleagues and I recently published. Until now, researchers have conducted a number of interesting studies but these were relatively small and used a wide variety of methods and designs, which doesn’t permit robust conclusions. By combining efforts (see also the ‘data sharing’ page) much more could be known faster.

Our message is still relevant, but there are also some beautiful examples of collaboration. One was presented by Nancy Kassam-Adams at the European Conference on Traumatic Stress Studies. With three colleagues from the US and Australia she is building a large database from datasets of individual researchers: the Child PTSD Prediction Project. The data of  2500 children have been included so far (that’s already 25 times the usual N in a study…). It will enable researchers to answer questions about early risk and protective factors, and about trajectories of posttraumatic stress symptoms in children. Go and collaborate!