Measures of emotional health and styles of responding to negative moods were obtained for 137 students 14 days before the Loma Prieta earthquake. A follow-up was done 10 days again 7 weeks after the earthquake to test predictions about which of the students would show the most enduring symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress. Regression analysis showed that students who, before the earthquake, already had elevated levels of depression and stress symptoms and a ruminative style of responding to their symptoms had more depression and stress symptoms for both follow-ups. Students who were exposed to more dangerous or difficult circumstances because of the earthquake also had elevated symptom levels 10 days after the earthquake. Similarly, students who, during the 10 days after the earthquake, had more ruminations about the earthquake were still more likely to have high levels of depressive and stress symptoms 7 weeks after the earthquake.

A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: three studies in reliability and validity.

Since trauma arises from an inescapable stressful event that overwhelms people's coping mechanisms, it is uncertain to what degree the results of laboratory studies of ordinary events are relevant to the understanding of traumatic memories. This paper reviews the literature on differences between recollections of stressful and of traumatic events. It then reviews the evidence implicating dissociation as the central pathogenic mechanism that gives rise to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD indicated that traumatic memories were retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that can be properly referred to as “explicit memory.” The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of traumatic memories are discussed.

Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study

Developmental traumatology part II: brain development ∗

Background We consider the evidence for the proposition that the early phase of psychosis (including the period of untreated psychosis) is a critical period' in which (a) long-term outcome is predictable, and (b) biological, psychological and psychosocial influences are developing and show maximum plasticity. Method First-episode prospective studies, predictors of outcome and the genesis of patients' key appraisals of their psychosis are reviewed. Results The data support the notion of the ‘plateau effect’, first coined by Tom McGlashan, which suggested that where deterioration occurs, it does so aggressively in the first 2-3 years; and that critical psychosocial influences, including family and psychological reactions to psychosis and psychiatric services, develop during this period. Conclusions The early phase of psychosis presents important opportunities for secondary prevention. We outline a prototype of intervention appropriate to the critical period. The data challenge the widely held assumption that first-episode psychosis is a benign illness posing little risk.

Early intervention in psychosis: The critical period hypothesis

Introduction: the trauma of war. Posttraumatic stress disorder: an old problem with a new name. War trauma and human development: the Vietnam experience. Social networks, helping networks, and Vietnam veterans. Irrational reactions to posttraumatic stress disorder and Vietnam veterans. Diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Individual psychotherapy with Vietnam veterans. Rap groups and group therapy for Vietnam veterans. Family therapy for Vietnam veterans. The place of narcosynthesis in the treatment of chronic and delayed stress response reactions of war. The veterans administration's Vietnam veteran outreach and counseling centers. Inpatient treatment of Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. A guide to obtaining a military history from Vietnam veterans. The unconscious flashback tot eh ware in Vietnam veterans: clinical mystery, legal defense, and community problem. Women Vietnam veterans. Vietnam veterans on active duty: adjustment in a supportive environment. Vietnam era prisoners of war: studies of U.S. Air Force prisoners of war. The intercultural setting: Encountering black Vietnam veterans. Diagnosis and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in the Hispanic Vietnam veterans. Incarcerated Vietnam veterans. Forensic assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Conclusion: stress and recovery in Vietnam veterans. Index.

The Trauma of war : stress and recovery in Viet Nam veterans

Postpsychotic depression in schizophrenics

by David TuckettPalgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants, 2011; 260 pp; £26.00Most readers of this book review know David Tuckett as the former Editor in Chief of this Journal. But, in Minding The Ma...

Stephen M. Sonnenberg

Papers

The Trauma of war : stress and recovery in Viet Nam veterans

Postpsychotic depression in schizophrenics

Minding The Markets: An Emotional Finance View of Financial Instability

Children of survivors

Victims of violence and post-traumatic stress disorder