This book is one additional indication that a new field of study is emerging within the social sciences, if it has not emerged already. Here is a sampling of the fruit of a field whose roots can be traced to the earliest medical writings in Kahun Papyrus in 1900 B.C. In this document, according to Ilza Veith, the earliest medical scholars described what was later identified as hysteria. This description was long before the 1870s and 1880s when Char cot speculated on the etiology of hysteria and well before the first use of the term traumatic neurosis at the turn of this Century. Traumatic...

Over 100 researchers from 16 countries contribute to the first comprehensive handbook on post-traumatic stress disorder. Eight major sections present information on assessment, measurement, and research protocols for trauma related to war veterans, victims of torture, children, and the aged. Clinicians and researchers will find it an indispensible reference, touching on such disciplines and psychiatry, psychology, social work, counseling, sociology, neurophysiology, and political science.

Mental health problems among asylum seekers and refugees are becoming a public issue, but awareness of this problem among the mental health community is relatively low. Although advances have been made in the provision of innovative mental health services for asylum seekers and refuges with PTSD, they are not systemized, and not widely known to professionals in the field. A publication offering practical guidelines for the treatment of torture victims and political refugees does not exist. Broken Spirits aims to bring together the works of the most respected mental health...

Debriefing has emerged as one of the most controversial interventions in clinical psychology and psychiatry. This book constitutes an unprecedented presentation and analysis of evidence for the efficacy of psychological debriefing, in theory and application. It also appraises current research findings on the proper use of such interventions. The reader, with authoritative editorial guidance, is taken through the controversies surrounding debriefing of various kinds, in various settings, and at various levels of organizational supervision and control. Contributors include many leading...

A major emphasis is the need to reformulate diagnostic criteria and tr eatment goals to reflect emerging knowlege about the complex pathways by which trauma disrupts people's lives. Within a holistic, organismic framework, the editors identify 65 PTSD symptoms contained within fiv e (rather than the traditional three) symptom clusters, and spell out 80 target objectives for treatment. Expert contributors then provide d etailed presentations of core therapeutic approaches, including acute posttraumatic interventions, cognitive-behavioral approaches, pharmaco therapy, group psychotherapy, and...

This volume presents an innovative psychobiological framework for understanding and treating PTSD. A major emphasis is the need to reformulate diagnostic criteria and treatment goals to reflect emerging knowledge about the complex pathways by which trauma disrupts people's lives. Within a holistic, organismic framework, the editors identify 65 PTSD symptoms contained within five (rather than the traditional three) symptom clusters, and spell out 80 target objectives for treatment. Expert contributors then provide detailed presentations of core therapeutic approaches, including acute...

From prominent authorities in the field, the revised and expanded second edition of this acclaimed work is an essential resource for anyone providing treatment services or conducting research in the area of trauma and PTSD.