New Tool Helps Doctors Screen Female Veterans for Domestic Violence
A new, modified screening tool can help doctors identify female veterans exposed to intimate partner violence, recent research from a group of U.S. institutions indicates.
Trauma Expert: ‘Do Not Watch’ Beheading Videos
The beheading by terrorists of a third hostage over the weekend with threats to kill other captives prompted psychological experts to warn the public that viewing the ghastly videos can cause trauma. The slaying of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines – which Prime Minister David Cameron called “evil” – was seen in a video…
September Is Recovery Month: Telling Our Stories to Heal
When I was 5 years old, I changed my name to Susan Cinderella and invented a world where a cat was my mother and all the other grown-ups were animals, too. I loved climbing trees, wearing my brother’s too-big Levis overalls and running in soybean fields without shoes. I sniffed the roadside buttercups. I wanted…
Depression and Addiction: How Changing Your Thoughts Can Change Your Life
by Carolyn Hughes Childhood trauma left me battling with depression and alcoholism for over 20 years. Yet I could have recovered from both much sooner had I appreciated the damaging role that negative thinking played in my illness.
Understanding Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Traumatic Brain Injury
Neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury is a mental health condition that sometimes arises in the long-term aftermath of a physical injury that results in brain damage. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) classifies this condition along with other types of neurocognitive disorder in the reference text for mental health professionals called the Diagnostic and…
Addiction, Trauma Experts Featured at Promises Behavioral Health Symposium
On April 25, Promises Behavioral Health will host a symposium in Fort Lauderdale exploring the relationship of complex trauma to intimacy, addictions and mood disorders. The esteemed panel of speakers includes international speaker, author and clinician Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S, award-winning author, trainer, psychologist and trauma specialist Christine Courtois, PhD, ABPP, and board-certified addiction psychiatrist…
Watching News Coverage of Terrorist Attacks Can Be More Stressful Than Being a Victim, Study Finds
Extensive exposure to Boston Marathon bombing media coverage caused more acute stress in people watching on TV, online or listening to radio reports than in those experiencing the terrorist attack itself, researchers at UC Irvine have found. Even the study authors who specialize in researching trauma impacts said they were startled by their findings: People…
Childhood Trauma Linked to Brain Changes and Addiction
It has long been known that trauma at a young age can make a person vulnerable to a number of mental illnesses as well as addiction. Recently, however, researchers have made advances into understanding exactly why this is and specifically how trauma is linked to depression and addiction. Traumatic events during childhood actually change the…
The Problem of Sex Addiction
To be at risk for sex addiction, two psychological preconditions seem to exist during childhood:
Childhood Abuse or Neglect Can Lead to Elevated Stress Response Later in Life
If an individual was abused or neglected during childhood, he or she may have an elevated inflammatory response to stress later in life, according to a new study. The research was led by Linda Carpenter, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University who also treats patients with mood disorders at Butler Hospital.