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An Exploration Of Interventions For Healing Intergeneration Trauma To Develop Successful Healing Programs For Aboriginal Australians: A Literature Review, Alison J. Simpson, William Abur, James A. Charles

Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin

Introduction

Health outcomes and life expectancy of Indigenous people throughout the world are far poorer than non-Indigenous populations. Emerging evidence from research shows that many social issues which impact on Indigenous peoples globally is linked to trauma over generations. This review explores literature about Indigenous people from around the world to seek interventions which have been successful in healing intergenerational trauma.

Method

To identify interventions that have been successful in healing intergenerational trauma amongst Indigenous populations globally, a systematic search strategy was conducted using keywords and synonyms related to the topic. Peer reviewed academic literature was sourced from four …

The Resilience Of Female Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence In Southwest Nigeria: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, Tobi F. Oloyede

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nigeria endure harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their rights as women and their well-being. As the phenomenon of IPV persists in Nigeria, it is not only a family problem but a critical social and psychological problem. This study examined Nigerian female survivors’ hidden strength, agency, and resilience, rather than their powerlessness and vulnerability. Analysis of survey questionnaires, interviews, and secondary scholarship reveals that some Nigerian female survivors of IPV are able to cope whilst navigating stressful and traumatic experiences. The results also show that survivors’ ability to thrive and cope under …

An Association Between Perceived Social Support And Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity Among Women With Lifetime Sexual Victimization: The Serial Mediating Role Of Resilience And Coping, Michiyo Hirai, Ruby Charak, Laura D. Seligman, Joseph D. Hovey, John M. Ruiz, Timothy W. Smith

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examined the association between perceived social support and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms, serially mediated by resilience and coping among women exposed to different patterns of sexual victimization experiences: childhood sexual abuse (CSA) only, adult sexual assault (ASA) only, and sexual revictimization (SR). A total of 255 sexually victimized women recruited from four U.S. universities completed self-report measures online; 112 participants reported provisionally diagnosable levels of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The proposed model was largely supported in the CSA only group and the SR group. Different patterns of mediational effects were found across the three groups. …

Listen, Don’T Tell: Partnership And Adaptation To Implement Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy In Low-Resourced Settings, Rosaura Orengo-Aguayo, Regan W. Stewart, Bianca T. Villalobos, Juventino Hernandez Rodriguez, Aubrey R. Dueweke, Michael A. De Arellano, John Young

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Clinical psychological science has developed many efficacious treatments for diverse emotional and behavioral difficulties encountered by children and adolescents, although randomized trials investigating these treatments have disproportionally been conducted by American, university-based research labs. The subsection of the world population involved in these studies, however, represents very few people among those in need of psychological services whose voices, perspectives, and orientations to therapy have not generally been reflected in well-funded research trials. Dissemination and implementation of evidence-based services designed to meet the needs of this broader global population, therefore, may require cultural and contextual adaptation to be successful. The current …

Socially Just Trauma-Informed Responses To Covid-19 With Undocumented Communities, Daniela Dominguez

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Traumatic Experiences And Mental Health In College Students, Samantha Sanchez

2020 McNair Scholar Collection

Because most college students have experienced one or more traumatic experiences before reaching college, they may be at increased risk of experiencing a mental health disorder, such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examined the relationship between a history of traumatic events and mental health disorders among college students. There were direct correlations between traumatic experiences and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In addition, after dividing respondents into “low,” “middle,” and “high” levels of trauma, the high group scored significantly higher on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Women reported more symptoms of anxiety …

Assessing A Cognitive Model Of Trauma-Related Sleep Disturbance, Rebecca Chesher

Dissertations

Sleep disturbance is a symptom of many mental health disorders that may negatively affect cognition and mood. Trauma-related sleep disturbance is a core reaction of traumatic stress and PTSD, similar to symptoms experienced by individuals with insomnia or other sleep-wake disorders. Although the cause and symptom progression of trauma-related sleep disturbance may be very different, research and clinical practice assess and treat it with measures and interventions designed for general insomnia. Using a cognitive model of insomnia modified for trauma-related sleep disturbance, the current study assessed the relations between select trauma and sleep variables within the proposed constructs of: 1) …

A Comparison Of Strain, Social Learning, Control, And Trauma Theories Of Crime, Nicole Trauffer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of criminology has been dominated by Strain, Control and Social Learning Theories, among others. More recently, research and theory has focused on the role of trauma as a predictor of criminal behavior, especially for women. However, little research has empirically compared these theories to one another. The current study examined these four major theories to determine which best explains non-violent and violent criminal behaviors. Race and sex differences were examined. The data is from a large prospective cohort design study of individuals with documented histories of physical and sexual abuse and neglect and a control group of children …

Structural And Functional Brain Markers Of Trauma-Related Symptoms, Glenn Blessington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The neurocircuitry model of posttraumatic stress disorder suggests an association between trauma-related symptoms and abnormalities in the structure and function of limbic and prefrontal brain regions. Evidence also suggests that these structural and functional abnormalities are related. We tested the relation between whole brain white matter integrity, resting-state functional connectivity of a fronto-limbic network, and trauma-related symptoms in 22 trauma-exposed women. We hypothesized that components of whole brain white matter would correlate with components of resting connectivity within a fronto-limbic network. We used parallel independent component analysis (pICA) to test the associations between whole brain fractional anisotropy (FA) maps and …

Traumatic Shame Memories And Development Of Paranoid Ideations, Anwesha Maitra

Psychology and Counseling Theses

Paranoia and persecutory delusions constitute the symptoms of established disorders such as schizophrenia in clinical population. Paranoia is believed to exist as a continuum within the general population. A ‘threat anticipation model’ was established by Freeman and his colleagues suggested that paranoid delusions arise from the interaction of vulnerability, emotional processes, and reasoning basis. Paranoia in the subclinical population can be caused due to high levels of emotional variants such as depression, anxiety, fear and a concept of self-awareness in a psychological individual (Carvalho et al., 2019; Lincoln et al.2009).

Recent studies have focused on the associations between these emotional …

Experiences Of Latinx's Adult Transition To The U.S. And The Clinical Implications That Arise In Acclimating Into The Dominant Culture: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Gabriela Olavarrieta

Doctoral Dissertations

There has been a significant gap in the literature regarding the lived experience of the Latinx adult transition to the United States and the clinical implications that arise in acclimating to the dominant culture, particularly under the Trump Administration. The approach for the current research examined Latinxs’ adulthood transitions to the United States, experiences of acculturative stress, including instances of discrimination as well as their experiences acclimating or assimilating into the dominant culture. This study also examined what seeking, or being unable to seek, mental health services looked like in the current sociopolitical climate. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was utilized to …

A Qualitative Study Of The Foster Parent Experience: “I Try To Weather The Storm”, Ariel D. Marrero

Dissertations, 2020-current

This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of foster parents to understand how they make meaning of their child’s behavior and their training needs. A survey posted to online foster parent support communities gathered information about foster parents’ level of parental reflective functioning, perceptions of training experiences, and reflections on their parenting experience. Responses from 13 participants were collected and analyzed. Quantitative data gathered was used to characterize the sample of participants. Using thematic analysis, nine themes were rendered. Participants identified positive and negative aspects of their parenting experience, reported strong feelings of love, highlighted the impact of trauma on …

Trauma Responsive Elementary Schools In Virginia, Aleksa Putnam

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

School systems and personnel are beginning to recognize the immense impact that trauma has on their student populations and take initiative to address these factors within the school building using trauma responsive practices. School personnel are likely to encounter the effects of trauma on a regular basis in the management of behavioral concerns, which have a dose-response relationship to traumatic experiences. School principals are leaders in the school building and have a large influence on school-wide practices, thus are in the unique position to alter policy and practice. The current study examined Virginia elementary school principals’ level of trauma training, …

The Influence Of Childhood Trauma And Ptsd Symptoms On Attention And Adhd Symptoms In Adulthood: An Eeg Study, Kylie M. Jupp

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The influence of childhood trauma on clinical and cognitive functioning, specifically attention, has a large research base. However, the majority of studies have examined response inhibition to measure attention, and very few studies have evaluated how childhood trauma influences attentional control behavior and brain activity. Additionally, I aimed to integrate the use of the Allostatic Load Theory (ALT) to examine the outcome of negative attentional outcomes through the input of traumatic stressors. I addressed the above limitation and incorporated the ALT by investigating the influence of childhood trauma, community violence, and PTSD symptoms on attention performance and brain activity …

Response To Uncertain Threat In Acute Trauma Survivors, Kenneth Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

Uncertainty is often associated with subjective distress and a potentiated anxiety response. The heightened response to uncertainty may be a central mechanism via which anxiety-, trauma-, and stressor-related disorders are developed and maintained. The current study compared the neural response to predictable and unpredictable threat in acute trauma survivors to clarify the role of the response to uncertain threat in fear circuitry and further inform the nature of the development of PTSD in the context of uncertain threat. The novel study showed that anticipating unpredictable (primarily negative images) relative to predictable images increased activation in a frontoparietal network and was …

School Psychologists' Beliefs, Perceived Competence, Knowledge, Social/Norms Expectations, And Implementation Of School-Based Trauma-Focused Interventions, Amanda Rian Hanrahan

Theses and Dissertations

Two out of every three children will experience a traumatic event before the age of 16 (APA, 2008). Due to a variety of barriers, many of these children will not receive the mental health treatment and support they need (GAO, 2009). Researchers have identified School Psychologists as the primary school-based mental health professionals to provide services in schools (Jaycox et al., 2007). The present study aimed to better understand the prevalence of childhood trauma, analyze the factors that lead to increased intervention implementation for School Psychologists, and identify factors that decrease the negative association between barriers and implementation frequency of …

Gender Role Conflict, Emotion Regulation, And Ptsd Symptom Severity In Acutely Injured Trauma Survivors, Katelyn Elaine Heyrman

Theses and Dissertations

Within the acutely injured population, men are at an increased risk for trauma exposure and hospitalization. Previous literature has suggested that emotional dysregulation and masculine gender roles are associated with psychological distress and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. Despite these findings, researchers have focused their attention on masculine gender roles within the Veteran and college populations. The current study aimed to assess the Gender Role Conflict within the acutely injured population and determine if emotion regulation strategy moderated the relationship between masculine gender roles and PTSD symptom severity. Participants consisted of 90 traumatically injured, cisgender males (Mage= 44.88 years; 60% White) …

A Tale Of Two Crises: The Compounded Effect Of Covid-19 And Anti-Immigration Policy In The United States, Luz M. Garcini, Melanie M. Domenech Rodriguez, Alfonso Mercado, Manuel Paris

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting some important sources of health disparities that assail our society’s most vulnerable people, particularly undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. The focus of this commentary is on uncovering those sources of health disparities and making a call for action.

Natural Disasters And Attachment Quality: The Mediating Roles Of Self-Compassion And Positive Mental Health, Alexandra Teller

Dissertations

Emerging adults exposed to natural disasters may develop posttraumatic stress symptoms, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. Attachment quality has been found to be negatively associated with psychopathology in emerging adult hurricane survivors; however, the mechanisms by which this occurs have not yet been explored fully. Self-compassion may act as a protective factor against developing psychopathology while potentially promoting positive mental health outcomes following hurricane exposure. Furthermore, positive mental health has been identified as a potential resilience resource and may be impacted by attachment quality and self-compassion. The present study investigated the relationships between attachment quality, self-compassion, positive mental health, posttraumatic …

Mindfulness And Technology: Evaluating An Online Mindfulness Intervention For Symptoms Related To Sexual Assault, Erica Catherine Johnson

Dissertations

Sexual assault has been found to increase the risk of distressing psychological symptoms including PTSD, depression, somatization, drug and substance use, lower quality of life and experiential avoidance. As such, interventions for reducing the distress and negative impacts of sexual assault are of importance. Mindfulness is of particular interest as it addresses one of the prominent factors known to maintain psychological distress after trauma, experiential avoidance (Polusny et al., 2004; Merwin et al., 2009). Furthermore, an online mindfulness-based intervention can increase the accessibility and reduce the barriers to treatment. A within subjects repeated measures open clinical trial design was used …

Posttraumatic Growth In The Context Of Grief: Testing The Mindfulness-To-Meaning Theory, Honey Williams

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

The current study utilized a cross-sectional survey design to examine the role of mindfulness and meaning-making in the development of posttraumatic growth following the death of a loved one. Participants were 232 adults (77.2% female, 85% Caucasian), ages 18 to 67 years old (M = 35.7, SD = 12.5) who had experienced the death of a loved one in the last 10 years. Preliminary analysis indicated significant positive bivariate correlations between mindfulness and meaning making (r = .39 ) and mindfulness and posttraumatic growth (r = .20 ), as well significant negative bivariate correlations between mindfulness and …

Critically And Creatively Engaging With Trauma-Informed Mental Health Research And Treatment Of Lgbtqia+ Communities As Expressive Arts Therapists: A Literature Review, Kelli Lavallee

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Expressive Arts Therapists are uniquely situated as both artists and mental health counselors working in psychological pedagogy rooted in systems of oppression. Given the arts-based approaches to the therapeutic relationship, it can be unethical to offer these approaches without acknowledgement of the ways in which the arts intersect with social justice, and justice is only viable if practitioners critically review the clinical mental health education they are consuming from the institutions they learn in, specifically trauma-informed mental health research assimilation and treatment approaches for Expressive Arts Therapists in training, practice, and education. A review of the literature in this paper …

The Criminalized Victim: Can Knowledge Of Trauma And Coercion Influence Free Will Doubt And Perception Of Culpability For Sex Trafficked Individuals?, Megan Korovich

Student Theses

Individuals who have been sex trafficked are continuously being targeted for prostitution and other related offenses instead of being recognized for their victimization. This may occur due to a fundamental lack of understanding of the sex-trafficked experience, allowing for misperceptions to form unhindered. Individuals with these misperceptions then go on to form laws and services intended to aid victims, but instead leave them vulnerable and criminalized. This study assessed whether an educational intervention on the experience of a sex-trafficked individual could influence public perceptions of free will doubt and criminal culpability. This study used a nonequivalent groups posttest-only design to …

The Role Of Emotional Acceptance And Awareness In The Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms And Posttraumatic Growth Among Survivors Of Sexual Assault, Cecilia Maria Melendez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (Morgan & Oudekerk, 2019), sexual assault is defined as an act or attempted act of unwanted sexual violence. The psychological consequences following an assault can lead to a number of negative mental health outcomes, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reported that 22.2% of survivors experience symptoms of PTSD following exposure to sexual victimization (Black et al., 2011). However, recent research suggests positive outcomes can also result following trauma, such as enhanced meaning making or clarification of values. Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) refers to a transformation …

The Romanticization Of Violent Male Offenders: How Trauma And Internalized Sexism Can Explain Women's Fascination With Serial Killers, Ella R. Johnson

Student Theses

Past research has noted that women are interested in true crime more than men (Vicary & Fraley, 2014), and that some women romanticize violent male offenders (Isenberg, 1991). This study investigated women’s fascination with serial killers compared to other offenders and the psychological correlates of women who are fascinated with serial killers. I hypothesized women’s fascination was unique to serial killers and may be related to safe and culturally acceptable ways of coping with interpersonal trauma. Results largely support these hypotheses, indicating women were more fascinated with serial killers compared to other offenders, and with PTSD, child abuse, intimacy attitudes, …

Exploring The Experience Of Psychological Distress For Young Adults With Cancer: Implications For A New Diagnosis Of Medical Traumatic Stress, Audrey Ryan

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how a serious medical diagnosis, such as cancer, can act as an acute or prolonged trauma. This was explored through the lived experiences of psychological distress of young cancer survivors. Participants were 12 men and women who had been diagnosed with cancer within the past seven years when they were between the ages of 18 and 39. From these interviews several themes emerged that describe the phenomenon of what I have termed medical traumatic stress.

Trauma from a medical event does not currently meet criteria for PTSD in the DSM-5 …

Development Of A Method For Utilizing Oriental Belly Dance Rhythms To Deepen A Client’S Understanding Of Their Emotions After Experiencing Trauma, And Move Towards Healing, Jenny Nehir Eish-Baltaoglu

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

A workshop was offered to local women in North Eastern Ohio who have experienced trauma and are facing uncomfortable emotions or unpleasant memories as a result. A guided body scan, Focusing Oriented Art directives, and improvisational movement explorations were employed to deepen awareness and understanding of the emotions and memories participants wished to have better control over. Three movement rhythms, which are central to the ancient feminine dance form popularly known as belly dance, were explored through improvisational movement both as a group and independently. These movement rhythms included staccato pops and locks, fluid figure eights, and vibratory shimmies. Participants …

Rhythm And Safety Of Social Engagement: Polyvagal Theory Informed Dance/Movement Therapy, Suzanne Weare

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The polyvagal theory has exerted great influence on the field of clinical therapy since the 1990s by proposing an understanding of the psychological expression seen in clients as a reflection of their physiological state of safety or threat of danger. When affect and psychological states are viewed through the lens of the autonomic nervous system directed by neuroception through bidirectional vagal nerve information, therapeutic presence and somatic therapy practices, such as those utilized in the field of dance/movement therapy, become more conceivable as best practices to treat a variety of psychological conditions to include trauma recovery, autism spectrum disorders, and …

The Role Of Perceived Heterosexism In Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity Among Trauma-Exposed Sexual Minority Individuals, Natalie M. Cereseto

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employed structured posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assessments, a micro-longitudinal 30-day daily diary assessment, and multilevel modeling to investigate the unique and interactive effects of traumatic stress and daily sexual minority-related discrimination on PTSD symptoms and negative affect in a diverse sample of 38 trauma-exposed SM individuals.

Trauma And Life-Satisfaction From A Dual-Factor Model Approach, David P. Engel

Psychology and Counseling Theses

The traditional approach in the mental health field is to view psychopathology and indicators of well-being as constructs at opposite ends of the same continuum. Recent evidence suggests that these might be separate, but related, constructs. Participants were 357 undergraduate psychology students who completed online questionnaires measuring trauma symptoms, life satisfaction, and four positive psychological constructs associated with well-being: gratitude, grit, hope, and savoring. Participants were organized into four groups based on life satisfaction level and trauma symptoms. Groups differed significantly on measures of gratitude, grit, hope, and savoring. Results support evidence that psychopathology and indicators of well-being are separate, …