Presidential Voice
Carolyn Allard, Ph.D.
To be sure, 2020 will go down in history (and it is barely halfway through). My hope is that what will earn its place in the history books will be the humanity that shone brightly through the fissures in the fiber of society - fissures that for increasing numbers of us have become impossible to continue to ignore during our forced deceleration and diminished access to distractors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This stillness has provided us with increased opportunities... Read Full Article
Editor's Note
Jonathan Cleveland, PhD
Welcome to the summer issue of Trauma Psychology News. Clinicians specializing in trauma treatment find themselves in formidably turbulent times. With all that our readers are doing to help, the editorial team at TPN hopes that they are remembering to allocate some time for self-care. Read Full Article
Convention
Division 56 programming for the 2020 APA Virtual Convention
Invited Panel Discussions:
- Transcending Divisiveness: Depolarizing Practices from Around the Globe
- Town hall to Advance Research, Practice and Policy Through Reciprocal Collaboration
Skill-building Sessions:
- Culturally Responsive Interventions for Women of Color Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma
- Applying Betrayal Trauma Theory and the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire to Therapy with Survivors
- Trauma-Informed Supervision
- Promoting a Trauma-Informed Hospital across Various Contexts: Theory and Practical Considerations
Symposiums:
- Trauma-Informed Care: Addressing the Needs of Immigrant Children and Unaccompanied Minors
- Community Support Engagement following Trauma Exposure: Implications for Recovery
- Global Sex Trafficking: Trafficker Profiles, Prevention, and Intervention
- Prevention of Sexual Abuse and Promotion of Emotional Safety in Educational Settings
- Social and Community Factors in Prevention and Recovery from Interpersonal Violence
Div. 56 Convention home page: https://www.apatraumadivision.org/30/convention-training.html
Letter to the Editor
Preventing Professional Trauma Responses
Howard Fradkin, PhD
It is well known in trauma research that psychotherapists who work with trauma survivors are prone to their own troubling traumatic responses, such as vicarious traumatization, counter trauma, and secondary victimization. Recognizing that all psychologists are working to help cope with a mass trauma with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ohio Psychological Association Prevention and Wellness Program began a weekly offering of Self-Care Assemblies for Ohio psychologists in late March. Our program recognized that while psychologists were busy caring for their clients and patients, they needed a safe space... Full Article
Featured Article
Wildland Firefighters: Healing Outside the Box
Marilyn Wooley, PhD
Firefighting is one of the most physically and psychologically demanding professions. Wildland firefighters are a special breed. Whereas structure firefighters focus on fire suppression in communities and protecting property such as homes and vehicles, wildland firefighters traditionally fight fire in the forests, fields, and grasslands [United States Forest Service(USFS), 2018]. Firefighters working in cities can go home after shift. Wildland firefighters remain in the wilds, isolated from their families, limited to infrequent phone calls when cell coverage is available, for weeks, even months until the job is done. Full Article
Featured Article
Mental Health Challenges of a Global Pandemic: The Case of COVID-19
Dr. Ani Kalayjian, Jasmin Guevarra, and Erin Antona
Towards the end of 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) began in China and quickly spread to other countries within months. COVID-19 is an infectious virus that easily spreads with mild to moderate symptoms, mainly infecting older individuals with underlying medical problems (WHO, 2020). By March 11, 2020, the coronavirus became a global pandemic according to the report put forth by the World Health Organization. By March 13, 2020, it was declared a national emergency in the United States (CDC, 2020). The United States became the epicenter of COVID-19 and by June 2020, there were 1,920,904 total cases and 10,990 total deaths (CDC, 2020). In order to slow down and eventually stop the spread of the virus, the government implemented a series of guidelines... Full Article
Multicultural & Diversity
Hablar Es Sanar: Reflections on a Trauma Healing and Wellness Group for Latina Women
Immigrants are the fastest growing population in the United States (U.S.), with more than half of the 44 million foreign-born residents and 11 million undocumented immigrants being from Latin America (Passel & Cohn, 2019; Radford & Noe-Bustamante, 2019). Thus, increased access to culturally responsive mental health services in Spanish for marginalized Latinx communities is paramount. In pursuit of this work, we have collaborated to develop and facilitate Hablar Es Sanar (Talking is Healing), a community-based and trauma-focused mental health and wellbeing support group for Latina women. Full Article
Division 56 Listservs
div56@lists.apa.org - Discussion among members
div56childtrauma@lists.apa.org - Child trauma topics
div56dissociation@lists.apa.org - Post-traumatic dissociative mechanisms development
div56ecpn@lists.apa.org - Early career psychologists networking
div56stu@lists.apa.org - Student forum
Archived Issues
Have you missed any of our excellent content? Check out the archived issues page to read about the work our members are doing.
Brief Report
Can Zoom Increase Group Therapeutic Outcomes? A Case Study Involving Therapeutic Improvisational Theater for Veterans with Addiction and PTSD
Patricia A O’Gorman, PhD, Samuel M. Hall, MA, MAC, CASAC, & Col. C. David Merkel, MD
Zoom has exploded into the recent vacuum created by the need to socially distance in all walks of life, including for therapeutic improvisational theater for veterans in long-term residential care who have addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. This innovative program developed by St. Joseph’s Addiction and Treatment Centers was designed to explore enhanced treatment modalities that could reach this population of veterans... Full Article
Brief Report
Secondary Traumatic Stress in First Responders
Skylee Campbell and Ta-Keisha Smith
One concept that is not often discussed or taught in the process of training is the cost of caring (Figley & Ludick, 2017). “The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet” (Remen, 1996, p. 52). In the fields of medical services, law enforcement, fire response, victim assistance, and mental health, professionals are frequently exposed to traumatic events, sometimes even on a daily basis (Molnar et al., 2017). Numerous terms are used to describe this concept of witnessing other’s trauma... Full Article
Book Review
Trauma, Resilience, and Health Promotion in LGBT Patients: What Every Healthcare Provider Should Know Eckstrand, K.L., & Potter, J. (Eds.)
Review By Jared Boot, MA and Nadeen Majeed MA
“Trauma, Resilience, and Health Promotion in LGBT Patients: What Every Healthcare Provider Should Know” addresses the complex reality of how LGBT experience heterosexism and how that affects their health. Eckstrand and Potter (2017) present an exceptional text for clinicians such as mental health professionals, medical doctors, and nurses who work with trauma and the LGBT community; it aims to develop interdisciplinary teams of trauma-informed professionals. Full Article
Who's Who
Student Spotlight
Culture-Specific Factors of Posttraumatic Outcomes in Latinas
Individuals of Latino origin (Latinx), the fastest growing minority group within the United States (U.S.; Grieco et al., 2012), have been found to be at high risk for trauma exposure related to migration, low socioeconomic status, and residence in communities with high crime rates (Cleary et al., 2018; Llabre et al., 2017). Further, Latinx in the U.S. are at an increased likelihood of facing prejudice and discrimination – an experience that, when chronic in nature, may be traumatic and have effects that mirror posttraumatic outcomes.., Full Article
Essay
Proximity to Impact
Lisa Y. Livshin
The world is up-ended. As psychologists, we would say that the world is dysregulated now. Emotional dysregulation is when people are unable to control or regulate their emotional reactions to “provocative stimuli”. A pandemic is the most provocative stimulus we’ve ever seen. With a specialization in disaster work, I observe my own difficulty self-regulating right now. I find myself tearing up out of nowhere, experiencing unfamiliar anxiety, and wondering if I have COVID-19 every time I feel a tickle in my throat. This is a collective, national trauma in the making... Full Article
Poem
She said she can’t breathe
Dr. Paula MacIan
no more pee
on the toilet
she’ll leave the seat up
to mark the day
that will never
end
Poem
Understanding Transgenerational Trauma in 2020
By Lisseth London
Moment by moment I am constantly overwhelmed by the images of death, injustice, and pain.
I thought I understood what trauma was but now I am faced with an anger that floods me showing me the wound of my people.
I sit here and ponder my next move; should I scream, cry, or give up?
Photography
Photo Essay
- Good Mother - Bad Mother
- Grauman's-Mann's-TCL Chinese Theater Late Saturday Afternoon, Sans People - Coronavirus Edition
- Beachfront
- Caution: Reality Ahead
- Love and Social Isolation - Coronavirus Edition
- Self Portrait 7
- Rose in Rage
- Social Isolation #1 - Coronavirus Edition
Essay
Self-Care for You and Yours: CONNECT
Barbara G. Melamed, PhD, ABPP
We are never alone… but we must pay greater attention to the people we love… and even those around us who don’t look like us, pray like us, or speak like us… they too deserve tolerance and gratitude. Watch the ZEN pig with your children or grandkids. Maybe it is we grown-ups that have a lesson to learn. It’s not about wealth. It is about how we spend our time... Full Article
Essay
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Grieving
Rita M. Rivera, B.S. & Denise Carballea, B.A.
he world is experiencing a communal sense of grief. Individuals across the globe have lost family members, friends, and loved ones to the novel coronavirus. Moreover, sanitary regulations and health practices enforced by different organizational authorities and governments are interrupting individuals’ bereavement process. Many cultures can no longer perform rituals and celebrations due to the strict policies of disposing of or cremating the bodies of COVID-19 patients. Full Article