Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 157230457X ISBN 13: 9781572304574

Publisher: The Guilford Press, 2006

Synopsis

This bestselling classic presents seminal theory and research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Together, the leading editors and contributors comprehensively examine how trauma affects an individual's biology, conceptions of the world, and psychological functioning. Key topics include why certain people cope successfully with traumatic experiences while others do not, the neurobiological processes underlying PTSD symptomatology, enduring questions surrounding traumatic memories and dissociation, and the core components of effective interventions. A highly influential work that laid the foundation for many of the field's continuing advances, this volume remains an immensely informative and thought-provoking clinical reference and text. The preface to the 2007 paperback edition situates the book within the context of contemporary research developments. 

About this title

About the Author:

Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D., is Director of the Trauma Center at Human Resources Institute in Boston Massachusetts, a center for the treatment and study of traumatized children and adults. He is an Associate Professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the past President of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. He has done extensive research on developmental and biological aspects of the human adaptation to trauma, including studying the nature of traumatic memories. He was co-principal investigator for the DSM-IV Field Trial for PTSD. He is the author of two previous books on the human response to trauma: PTSD: Psychological and Biological Sequelae (1984) and Psychological Trauma, (APA Press, 1987).

Lars Weisaeth, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Disaster Psychiatry at the University of Oslo, Norway, and frequent consultant to the United Nations and other international organizations regarding approaches to treating traumatized civilians and soldiers.

Alexander C. McFarlane is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia. His research in the field of trauma is wide ranging and began following a large bushfire disaster which affected his community in 1983. His clinical work is with victims of a variety of traumas, including accidents, disasters, torture, and war.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

I. BACKGROUND ISSUES AND HISTORY
1. The Black Hole of Trauma, van der Kolk & McFarlane.
2. Trauma and Its Challenge to Society, McFarlane & van der Kolk.
3. History of Trauma in Psychiatry, van der Kolk, Weisaeth, & van der Hart.

II. ACUTE REACTIONS
4. Stress versus Traumatic Stress: From Acute Homeostatic Reactions to Chronic Psychopathology, Shalev.
5. Acute Posttraumatic Reactions in Soldiers and Civilians, Solomon, Laror, & McFarlane.

III. DEFINING AND DIAGNOSING POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
6. The Classification of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Brett.
7. The Nature of Traumatic Stressors and the Epidemiology of Posttraumatic Reaction, McFarlane & Girolamo.
8. Resilience, Vulnerability and the Course of Posttraumatic Reactions, McFarlane.
9. The Complexity of Adaptation to Trauma: Self-regulation, Stimulus Discrimination, and Characterological Development, van der Kolk.
10. The Body Keeps the Score: Approaches to the Psychobiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, van der Kolk.
11. Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Clinical and Research Settings, Newman, Kaloupek, & Feane.

IV. MEMORY: MECHANISMS AND PROCESSES
12. Trauma and Memory, van der Kolk.
13. Dissociation and Information Processing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, van der Kolk, van der Hart, & Marmar.

V. DEVELOPMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL ISSUES
14. Traumatic Stress in Childhood and Adolescence, Recent Developments and Current Controversies, Pynoos, Steinberg, & Goenjian.
15. Prior Traumatization and the Process of Aging: Theory and Clinical Implications.
16. Legal Issues in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Pitman, Sparr, Saunders, & McFarlane.
17. Trauma in Cultural Perspective, de Vries.

VI. TREATMENT
18. A General Approach to Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, van der Kolk, McFarlane, & van der Hart.
19. Prevention of Posttraumatic Stress: Consultation, Training, and Early Treatment, Ursano, Grieger, & McCarroll.
20. Acute Preventive Interventions, Raphael, Wilson, Meldrum, & McFarlane.
21. Acute Treatments, Turnbull & McFarlane.
22. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Rothbaum & Foa.
23. The Psychopharmacological Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Davidson & van der Kolk.
24. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Nature of the Therapeutic Relationship, Lindy.
25. The Therapeutic Environment and New Explorations in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Turner, McFarlane, & van der Kolk.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 157230457X
• ISBN 13: 9781572304574
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 596
• Editor: Bessel A. Van Der Kolk, Alexander C. McFarlane, Lars Weisaeth