Tag: PTSD

MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Dana Becker about how therapeutic culture fails to adequately address women’s suffering.

A TV writer claims that research shows that Tetris is “literally a trauma first aid kit.” Her tweets sound scientific, but the research behind it is unconvincing.

Se-REM is a self-help version of EMDR that uses sound instead of eye movement for bilateral stimulation. My clients have reported finding it helpful for healing from trauma.

Rather than medicalizing distress, EMDR provides a way of healing from trauma. EMDR isn't about trying to treat the symptoms of an illness. It's about healing from the root cause.

Therapists are quick to refer to this pain I feel as a “fear of abandonment,” as if it is a figment of my mind and something not worth the time to attend to.

Recent studies show that we are not consuming as healthy a diet as our ancestors did. Would that matter to our brain health? Yes!

A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article and a recent American Psychiatric Association (APA) press release reveal the power the APA has wielded through its various DSM editions in pathologizing the effects of trauma.

This piece is the second of a two-part essay about suicide, diagnosis, what doesn't help, and what does help. This part is about barriers to seeking help and about the ways we actually can be of help to people who are considering suicide.

This piece is the first of a two-part essay about suicide, diagnosis, what doesn't help, and what does help. This part is about suicide, diagnosis, and some of what fails to help.

Rethinking Psychiatry's March meeting was a rich discussion of what "trauma-informed care" means. It is an important idea, but can be an empty buzzword. Our goal was to have a deeper, more meaningful conversation on what this term really means. A diverse group from the local community attended and we had a really interesting, thoughtful discussion.

In the United States and other countries that have a military, there is often a great deal of talk about supporting veterans, but way too often, research aimed at learning what will be helpful is misguided and can even be harmful. The same applies to nonveterans who have been through traumatic experiences. Two new studies exemplify such wrongheaded approaches.

The following are some ways in which trauma commonly impacts a trauma survivor’s life. Imagine, as you read, how different our society might be if systems of care and justice were as trauma-informed as your life might be.

An interview with David Joslin. David is a retired army medic, having been deployed to Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2008. David currently works as a senior healthcare administrator and he has co-founded Remedy Alpine, a Veterans therapeutic recreation non-profit dedicated to providing wilderness therapy adventures in Alaska.

Ten years after being fired for taking a mental health leave after the Virginia Tech massacre, I was diagnosed as "schizophrenic" and involuntarily committed to a hospital. Now I have a job and a life, but I'm still forced to take drugs and report to a social worker.

An interview with Amanda Burrill, who, after a successful career as a Surface Warfare Officer and Rescue Swimmer in the US Navy, was on track to continue her career as a professional triathlete and marathon runner. Around the time of her discharge, she was prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medications that caused physical injuries, leading to an early end to her rapidly accelerating career.

Group-based MBSR and PCGT therapies effective as a complementary treatment for PTSD.

A case analysis of an American Indian woman illustrates how the DSM diagnostic criteria misrepresent the lives of indigenous people.

Researchers find that efforts to integrate the Cambodian idiom baksbat (broken courage) into local mental health care may have served to pathologize adaptive responding.

A new study found that prazosin was associated with increased insomnia and nightmares, and did not reduce suicidal thoughts.

From St. Louis Public Radio: "A study from the Journal of Mental Health Counselling found that 81 percent of the African-Americans who reported racial discrimination were more...

From Psychology Today: "Most of the initial news coverage of the ICD-11's release focused on its inclusion of a new mental disorder called gaming disorder...However, while gaming disorder...

From Financial Times: "So far, clinicians have most commonly used VR for exposure therapy — for example, putting a person with a fear of heights...

From The New York Times: Months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the island is experiencing a severe mental health crisis. Public health officials say...

The American Psychological Association recently issued a guideline recommending only short-term, structured, and symptom-focused therapies for the treatment of PTSD; the guideline may be...

In this piece for The Atlantic, Brooke King reflects on how her trauma currently affects and may continue to affect her children, as well as...