School Expert to Senate: Traumatic Stress Common in Schools: Mental Health Services Help Schools and Children Meet Educational Goals

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
HAL A. LAWSON ◽  
JAMES C. CARINGI ◽  
RUTH GOTTFRIED ◽  
BRIAN E. BRIDE ◽  
STEPHEN P. HYDON

In this essay, authors Lawson, Caringi, Gottfried, Bride, and Hydon introduce the concept of trauma literacy, connecting it to students' trauma and educators' secondary traumatic stress (STS). Interactions with traumatized students is one cause of STS; others derive from other traumatic encounters in schools and communities. Undesirable effects of STS start with professional disengagement and declining performance, include spill-over effects into educators' personal lives, and, ultimately, may cause them to leave the profession. The authors contend that alongside trauma-informed pedagogies and mental health services for students, mechanisms are needed for STS prevention, early identification, and rapid response. To benefit from and advance this dual framework, educators need a trauma-informed literacy that enables self-care, facilitates and safeguards interactions with trauma-impacted students and colleagues, and paves the way for expanded school improvement models.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 1837-1847 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Priebe ◽  
J. Gavrilovic ◽  
S. Bremner ◽  
D. Ajdukovic ◽  
T. Franciskovic ◽  
...  

BackgroundPrevalence rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the experience of war have been shown to be high. However, little is known about the course of the disorder in people who remained in the area of conflict and in refugees.MethodWe studied a representative sample of 522 adults with war-related PTSD in five Balkan countries and 215 compatriot refugees in three Western European countries. They were assessed on average 8 years after the war and reinterviewed 1 year later. We established change in PTSD symptoms, measured on the Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IES-R), and factors associated with more or less favourable outcomes.ResultsDuring the 1-year period, symptoms decreased substantially in both Balkan residents and in refugees. The differences were significant for IES-R total scores and for the three subscales of intrusions, avoidance and hyperarousal. In multivariable regressions adjusting for the level of baseline symptoms, co-morbidity with depression predicted less favourable symptom change in Balkan residents. More pre-war traumatic events and the use of mental health services within the follow-up period were associated with less improvement in refugees.ConclusionsSeveral years after the war, people with PTSD reported significant symptom improvement that might indicate a fluctuating course over time. Co-morbid depression may have to be targeted in the treatment of people who remained in the post-conflict regions whereas the use of mental health services seems to be linked to the persistence of symptoms among refugees.


2018 ◽  
Vol 212 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stan Zammit ◽  
Catrin Lewis ◽  
Sarah Dawson ◽  
Hannah Colley ◽  
Hannah McCann ◽  
...  

BackgroundComorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with poorer outcomes of other disorders, but is treatable.AimsTo estimate the frequency of clinically undetected PTSD in secondary care.MethodA systematic review of studies that screened for PTSD and reported on PTSD documentation in clinical records. Frequency of undetected PTSD was estimated, and reasons for heterogeneity explored.ResultsThe median proportion of participants with undetected PTSD (29 studies) was 28.6% (interquartile range 18.2–38.6%). There was substantial heterogeneity, with studies conducted in the USA and those with the highest proportions of in-patients and patients with psychotic disorder reporting higher frequencies of undetected PTSD.ConclusionsUndetected PTSD is common in secondary care, even if the true value is at the lower limit of the estimates reported here. Trials examining the impact of routine screening for PTSD are required to determine whether such programmes should be standard procedure for all mental health services.Declaration of interestNone.


Crisis ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Mary Frances Seeley

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document