Using Bayesian methods to clarify the role of trauma-related cognitions on the course of posttraumatic stress in nonspecific trauma-focused therapy.

Objective: There is strong empirical evidence that a reduction of trauma cognitions lessens PTSD symptoms, but there are discrepancies, including evidence that baseline negative posttrauma cognitions are associated with more, less, or are not associated with changes in PTSD symptoms. Discrepancies may be a function of power, sample size, analytic method, or measure.

Methods: The rate of PTSD symptoms change across 16 trauma-focused treatment sessions in a community clinic ( = 56) was estimated using a Bayesian mixed-effects model with repeated measures nested within participants.

Development and validation of the Trauma-Related Cognitions Scale.

Cognitive theories suggest the manner in which individuals process trauma-related information influences posttraumatic sequelae. Interpretations about trauma can be maladaptive and lead to cognitive distortions implicated in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the processes of overaccommodation and assimilation. Alternatively, adaptive interpretations about trauma through the process of accommodation can lead to post-trauma resilience and recovery.

Communities Healing And Transforming Trauma (CHATT): A Trauma-Informed Speakers' Bureau for Survivors of Violence.

There is increasing recognition of the value of consumer participation in advocacy and community activism. Among trauma survivors, finding a sense of purpose and a way to make meaning from the trauma experience has been termed "survivor mission," and may include a call to social action, involvement in social justice activities, or public speaking. The current study describes the development of a trauma-informed trauma-survivor speakers' bureau (CHATT) and presents quantitative and qualitative outcome findings.

"We break the cycle…": Motivations for prosocial advocacy among former gang members to end gang involvement.

Gangs pose an extreme threat to at-risk individuals and disenfranchised communities. A unique insight into the gang life and a changing life narrative among former gang members may be assets in educating communities about systemic factors perpetuating gang activity. This grounded theory analysis examines motivations for joining and leaving gangs among 28 former gang members (age, M = 44; 87.

The Effects of Dissociation on Analogue Trauma Symptoms After Trauma Processing Among Women With Varying Histories of Lifespan Victimization.

Research has identified two subtypes of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); the traditional form that includes hyperarousal reactions, and the other involving ongoing dissociation. Dissociation has been reflected in the new diagnostic criteria for PTSD with the dissociative specification focused on the experience of high levels of depersonalization and/or derealization. PTSD that presents with ongoing dissociation appears to characterize complex cases of PTSD for individuals exposed to protracted trauma.

Posttraumatic Rumination: Content, Correlates, and Processes.

Objective: Trauma-related rumination (i.e., repetitive and recurrent thinking about trauma and its consequences) has shown to predict the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, though little is known about its characteristics.

Attachment Anxiety as a Risk Factor for Subsequent Intimate Partner Violence Victimization: A 6-Month Prospective Study Among College Women.

Recent research suggests that individuals with attachment difficulties are at increased risk for experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. However, most studies conducted on this topic have been cross-sectional, leaving it unclear whether attachment difficulties actually precede this type of violence. The current 6-month prospective study examined the relation between adult attachment and subsequent IPV victimization in a sample of 133 college women.

Positive change following adversity and psychological adjustment over time in abused foster youth.

Many foster youth experience maltreatment in their family-of-origin and additional maltreatment while in foster care. Not surprisingly, rates of depression are higher in foster youth than the general population, and peak during ages 17-19 during the stressful transition into adulthood. However, no known studies have reported on whether foster youth perceive positive changes following such adversity, and whether positive change facilitates psychological adjustment over time.

Making Meaning Out of Interpersonal Victimization: The Narratives of IPV Survivors.

Research examining meaning-making in the aftermath of interpersonal victimization among women has been restricted by quantitative methods and a focus on single distressing event. Qualitative methods were used to inspect meaning-making cognitions among a community sample of IPV (intimate partner violence) survivors. Consensus coding resulted in eight categories of meaning-making.

Trajectories of depressive symptoms in foster youth transitioning into adulthood: the roles of emotion dysregulation and PTSD.

Foster youth often experience considerable adversity both in and out of foster care, including histories of abuse and/or neglect, and further stressors within the foster system. These adverse experiences often occur at key developmental periods that can compromise emotional functioning and lead to posttraumatic symptomatology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotion dysregulation. In the face of difficult histories and ongoing mental health challenges, youth transitioning into adulthood may be particularly vulnerable to increases in depressive symptoms.

Posttraumatic growth in survivors of intimate partner violence: an assumptive world process.

Adverse consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) are well documented, whereas less research has explored positive changes. Recent efforts indicate that survivors report posttraumatic growth (PTG), but the schema reconstruction hypothesis by which this is achieved is in need of further investigation. One model of PTG suggests that growth is triggered by trauma(s) that challenges an individual's assumptive world.

Gender differences in attitudinal acceptance of intimate partner violence perpetration under attachment-relevant contexts.

Attachment theory has been one of the leading theoretical frameworks in the last few decades for explaining physical violence within romantic relationships. In this study, the authors examined differences in attachment patterns and attitudinal acceptance of violence perpetrated in romantic relationships among men and women. The Attitudinal Acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence questionnaire was developed to measure acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV) under attachment-relevant contexts of abandonment, as well as other contexts identified in the literature.

The mediating effect of world assumptions on the relationship between trauma exposure and depression.

The association between trauma exposure and mental health-related challenges such as depression are well documented in the research literature. The assumptive world theory was used to explore this relationship in 97 female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants completed self-report questionnaires that assessed trauma history, world assumptions, and depression severity.