scholarly journals Long-term effects of psychotherapy in a context of continuous community and gang violence: changes in aggressive attitude in high-risk South African adolescents

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Hinsberger ◽  
Leon Holtzhausen ◽  
Jessica Sommer ◽  
Debra Kaminer ◽  
Thomas Elbert ◽  
...  

AbstractBackground:Post-traumatic stress but also aggressive attitudes and behaviour can be found in adolescents living in a context of ongoing community and gang violence in the low-income urban areas of Cape Town, South Africa.Aims:We investigated the long-term effects (15–20 months after therapy) of (a) Narrative Exposure Therapy for Forensic Offender Rehabilitation (FORNET) and (b) the cognitive behavioural intervention ‘Thinking for a Change’ (CBT) on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and aggression compared with a waiting list.Method:Fifty-four young males participated in the treatment trial, of which 17 completed the FORNET intervention, 11 the CBT intervention, and 26 were on a waiting list. The primary outcome was the change score for the Appetitive Aggression Scale; secondary outcomes were the PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview change scores, and the number of perpetrated violent event types.Results:The reduction in scores for PTSD that had been observed in FORNET completers at the first follow-up were still significant at the second long-term follow-up (Cohen’s d = 0.86). In this treatment arm (FORNET), the scores for appetitive aggression were also significantly reduced (Cohen’s d = 1.00). There were no significant changes observed for CBT or for the waiting list.Conclusions:The study indicates that FORNET can successfully reduce post-traumatic stress as well as the attraction to violence even for individuals living under conditions of continuous traumatic stress.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yajing Sun ◽  
Yuanyuan Qu ◽  
Jianwei Zhu

Background: Stress disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are attracting much attention. However, the relationship between traumatic stress and inflammation is rarely discussed.Subjects and Methods: As studies have linked PTSD to altered susceptibility to various diseases, such a psychiatric condition may lead to long-term systematic changes in physiological functions. We searched PubMed with the keywords “traumatic stress,” “stress disorders,” “post-traumatic stress disorder,” and “inflammation.”Results: Based on 65 previously published studies, we reviewed the long-term effects of PTSD, as well as traumatic events, on inflammatory function from both epidemiological and biological perspectives. Post-traumatic stress disorder is related to the immune response, including an increase in inflammatory factors and a reduction in anti-inflammatory factors. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that traumatic stress disorder and immune disease share a common genetic basis at the gene expression level.Conclusions: Understanding this relationship is of great significance for optimizing treatment plans for patients with PTSD.


BMJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. n1648
Author(s):  
Harry Crook ◽  
Sanara Raza ◽  
Joseph Nowell ◽  
Megan Young ◽  
Paul Edison

Abstract Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, covid-19 has spread and had a profound effect on the lives and health of people around the globe. As of 4 July 2021, more than 183 million confirmed cases of covid-19 had been recorded worldwide, and 3.97 million deaths. Recent evidence has shown that a range of persistent symptoms can remain long after the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, and this condition is now coined long covid by recognized research institutes. Studies have shown that long covid can affect the whole spectrum of people with covid-19, from those with very mild acute disease to the most severe forms. Like acute covid-19, long covid can involve multiple organs and can affect many systems including, but not limited to, the respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems. The symptoms of long covid include fatigue, dyspnea, cardiac abnormalities, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, muscle pain, concentration problems, and headache. This review summarizes studies of the long term effects of covid-19 in hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients and describes the persistent symptoms they endure. Risk factors for acute covid-19 and long covid and possible therapeutic options are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Roman Popeliushko ◽  

The article emphasizes that Ukrainian society is suffering from the effects of the war in the east of the country. These consequences are manifested both in the direct participants in the hostilities and in their family members, who have been in a state of stress for a long time, waiting for the disappointing news from the east about their relatives and friends. It is noted that while participating in hostilities, many combatants receive combat mental injuries. These injuries further lead to post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychosomatic disorders that cause his psychoso-cial self-isolation, disruption of relationships with family and self-destructive behav-ior that leads to premature death. An urgent and urgent problem of today's Ukrainian state is the organization of effective social and psychological rehabilitation of combatants and their families. But at the moment, Ukraine has not created a single comprehensive program of social and psychological rehabilitation of combatants and their families. Therefore, the aim of the article is to analyze the initial diagnostic indicators of psychological trauma of combatants who took part in our proposed program of psy-chological support of combatants and their families, at the initial, first stage of this program. The methodological bases of the work were such general scientific and special methods as: method of analysis and generalization of psychodiagnostic indicators, formal-logical method, psychological and clinical methods and tests. This paper briefly considers the purpose, main tasks and structural components of the proposed program of psychological support of combatants and their families. The main focus of the work is focused on the first (diagnostic) phase of the program. The purpose of this stage was to carry out a psychological diagnosis of the long-term effects of stressors in combatants. The implementation of the diagnostic stage was carried out during 2018, on the basis of military units, recreational facilities, social, volunteer and rehabilitation centers, etc. The total number of combatants covered by the study was 356 people. It is emphasized that for the experimental study of long-term effects of stress-ors in combatants, a proven set of clinical-psychopathological and psychodiagnostic techniques was proposed to study 5 factors that have become key in building a sys-tem of psychological rehabilitation of combatants. These factors included: the pres-ence of signs of post-traumatic stress disorder; the presence of signs of stress; the presence of signs of anxiety; the presence of signs of depression; and combat experi-ence of the combatant. Analysis of the results of the first stage of the program of psychological sup-port combatants noted the presence of a large number of subjects, such phenomena as post-traumatic stress disorder (more than 60% of combatants), stress (more than 45% of combatants), anxiety (more than 35% of combatants), depression (more than 30% of combatants). Also drawn attention to the fact that the findings confirm the results of previ-ous studies of domestic and foreign researchers and practitioners that some of the combatants who participated in the fighting eventually begin to suffer from long-term effects of stress effects. Therefore, further implementation of the program of psychological support of combatants, with long-term effects of stress, and their families, on the basis of genetic-psychological-axiological approach, namely the second stage, which provides psychological and social assistance or support to combatants and their families, is a promising and effective means of their psychological rehabilitation.


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