Presidential Voice

By: Sylvia Marotta-Walters, PhD

The news every day seems to provide a panoply of potentially traumatic experiences (PTE) affecting our families, our political systems, and our global society. At the time of this writing, families are hearing that their loved ones have lost their lives in an airplane crash. Communities are bracing for yet another catastrophic storm, introducing new phrases such as “bomb cyclones” and “polar vortices” to characterize extreme weather conditions. Relentless school shootings continue to happen, resulting in children having to learn to cope with active shooter drills starting in kindergarten.  This is also a world where parents are forced into a Sophie’s choice – stay in a homeland that threatens their children with a life of violence, if not death, or risk losing them to a broken immigration system in a country that is hostile to the kinds of attachments that are fundamental to healthy human development.

Because our social systems appear to be in chaos, I’ve chosen as my presidential theme, “Developing well in a traumatizing world.”... Full Article

Editor's Note

By: Jonathan Cleveland, PhD

Greetings,

Welcome to an expanded spring issue of Trauma Psychology News.  The earlier portion of the current issue is devoted to a special section on the topic of dissociation.  We are fortunate to have Dr. Tyson Bailey serving as the guest editor for this section.  Dr. Baily is a former editor of TPNand a current associate editor of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy. Please visit the following page for his introductory note... Full Article

Guest Editor's Note

By: Tyson D. Bailey, PsyD, ABPP

During my internship year, I sat in group supervision listening to the story of a person who had experienced horrific abuse coming to understand the effects of these repeated experiences over time. This client moved from a place of terror toward curiosity about their internal world and how dissociation helped protect them from the intensity of the abuse and their emotions. Listening to my colleague honor this survivor’s story while they came to know their parts and how each one has been integral in their survival was a powerful learning experience. Then, the person was admitted to a hospital where a psychiatrist stated “Dissociation is not real... Full Article

Philosophical/Psychoanalytic

Three Problems with Dissociation

Bryan T. Reuther, PsyD

In the minds of clinicians and researchers, the term ‘dissociation’ conjures up a variety of intriguing and controversial phenomena; it should therefore come as no surprise that some have complained that the term is vague and imprecise (Cardeña, 1994; Frankel, 1994; Spitzer, Barnow, Freyberger & Grabe, 2006). Complaints notwithstanding, there is little disagreement that dissociation has been, and will remain, an important part of human psychology (Erdelyi, 2005), particularly as a reaction to trauma... Full Article

Special Section Article

Paula Thomson, PsyD & S. Victoria Jaque, PhD

Performing artists and athletes are generally regarded as highly skilled and disciplined. In order to achieve professional / elite level performance, they must dedicate long hours to attain expertise in their field. To manage these demands, many performers and athletes employ dissociative processing, both within the normative and pathological range (Thomson, Keehn, & Gumpel, 2009; Thomson, Kibarska, & Jaque, 2011). Our laboratory mission is to address the reality that minimal attention is given to the investigation of trauma exposure and dissociation in these populations... Full Article

Special Section Article

Ana Abu-Rus M.A., Ken Thompson M.L.A., Cassie Brown B.A., Monica Ortiz B.A., Brandi Naish M.A., & Constance Dalenberg, Ph.D.

Malingering is an issue that most, if not all, professionals in the mental health field will encounter. For various reasons, clients present with symptoms that may be overstated, exaggerating symptom complexity or severity, just as an individual wishing stronger dosages of a medication might exaggerate physical or mental pain. Conversely, they may try to minimize symptoms, understating their level of distress to protect their own or another’s self-image, as an individual interested in gaining custody might downplay their own or their children’s pathology. Individuals who complete trauma self-reports, a typical method for assessing trauma, may distort their reports in a way that casts them in a more or a less favorable light, depending on the desired outcome... Full Article

Special Section Article

Hugo Schielke, PhD, Amie Myrick, MS, LCPC, & Bethany Brand, PhD

Persons who meet criteria for dissociative disorders (DDs) often experience high levels of chronic impairment across multiple domains of functioning, including complex psychiatric symptoms as well as social, emotional, and physical health difficulties (e.g., Brand et al. 2009a, Foote, Smolin, Kaplan, Legatt, & Lipschitz, 2006; Sar, Akyuz, & Dogan, 2007). Such challenges result in marked suffering and significant treatment costs.  Patients with dissociative identity disorder (DID), the most complex DD, suffer from significant rates of psychiatric comorbidity, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, borderline personality disorder (BPD), substance use, disordered eating, somatic symptom disorders, and high rates of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts... Full Article

Special Section Article

Lynne H. Harris, MA, MPH, LMHC, LPC

It’s “just a donut” became an unlikely catchphrase for my work with a client who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It started in the retelling of a routine, but fraught, Dunkin Donuts run and ended up as a way we use to signal the patient’s amygdala to turn off ... Full Article

Philosophical/Psychoanalytic

Worlds Apart: Dissociation and Traumatic Temporality

Robert D. Stolorow, Ph.D.

oined by Pierre Janet in his investigations of hysteria, the term dissociation has taken on a variety of not-always-compatible meanings and usages in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice. Donnel Stern (1997), for example, defines dissociation as a “refusal to interpret” (p. xii) experience, a defensive “avoidance of verbal [symbolic] articulation” (p. 114)—a formulation that, interestingly, comes very close to the way Atwood and I (Stolorow and Atwood, 1992) conceive of the process of repression... Full Article

Special Section Article

Embracing the Legitimacy of Dissociative Identity Disorder: An Opportunity for Trauma Psychologists to Stand United

Charles A. Benincasa, MA & Tyson D. Bailey, PsyD, ABPP

Narratives emerging from the #MeToo movement have illuminated the pervasiveness of sexual assault and positioned the associated psychological impacts within a broader sociopolitical discourse. The eruption of #MeToo anecdotes has also provided a commentary on the ways that social, legal, political, and cultural systems coalesce to protect individuals in positions of power and privilege... Full Article

Featured Article 

The Role of Trauma Core Competencies in Shaping Clinical Psychology Graduate School Education and Training

Amanda Wallick, Abbie J. Brady, & Lisa M. Brown, PhD, ABPP

Why are the New Haven Trauma Core Competencies important for graduate students, trainees, and psychologists? Applying a standardized set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes at all stages of professional development has the potential to improve education and training, advance standards of care, support use of evidence-based or informed practices in clinical settings, enhance delivery of care, and improve patient outcomes. Consistency in the content and quality of teaching and training programs contributes to a common shared language, defines expectations for optimal work performance, and ensures uniform quality of patient care across clinical settings... Full Article

International Committee

International Committee Report

Elizabeth Carll, Ph.D. with Laura Captari, M.A., M.S.

s part of the series of interviews conducted by student members with trauma psychologists from various parts of the world, Laura Captari, a student member of the International Committee, interviewed Dr.Brian J. Hall, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Global and Community Mental Health Research Group, Department of Psychology at the University of Macau in China... Full Article

Multicultural & Diversity

Book Review

Student Spotlight

Literature Review