Roles, challenges, and possibilities of traumatic stress professional societies around the world.

In many parts of the globe, regional professional societies have developed local traumatic stress organizations and have become affiliate societies of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). At the ISTSS 40th Annual Meeting in September 2024, delegates from the ISTSS and five ISTSS-affiliate societies-Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático (ACET), the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ASTSS), Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für Psychotraumatologie (DeGPT), the Japanese Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (JSTSS), and the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (KSTSS)-gathered for a panel discussion entitled "Roles, Challenges, and Possibilities of ISTSS Affiliated Organizations Around the World: A Panel Discussion." Each panelist shared insights into their organization's structure, goals, ongoing projects, and challenges in addressing traumatic stress in their regions.

Mechanisms underlying the impact of self-stigma on social engagement in Arabic-speaking refugees: A path analysis.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in refugees has been linked to poor social outcomes. Self-stigma appears to be a potential barrier to social engagement in refugees with PTSD, however research into this relationship is scarce. As such, the study aimed to 1) investigate whether self-stigma of PTSD (SSPTSD) and self-stigma of seeking help (SSOSH) underlie the association between PTSD and reduced social engagement in refugees, and 2) identify psychological mechanisms underpinning the association between PTSD and both types of self-stigma.

Longitudinal Associations Between Sources of Uncertainty and Mental Health Amongst Resettled Refugees During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have disproportionately affected forcibly displaced people due to parallel uncertainties such as visa insecurity and family separation. This study explicitly examined whether different sources of uncertainty contributed in specific ways to increased psychological symptoms for refugees during the pandemic. A large cohort of 733 refugees and asylum seekers settled in Australia completed a mental health survey in June 2020 (T1) and 12 months later in June 2021 (T2).

Understanding and improving the mental health of refugees and asylum-seekers: Reflections from the closing panel of the 2024 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Meeting.

Forcible displacement due to war and persecution has reached unprecedented heights across the globe. The mental health impact of trauma and displacement on refugee communities is profound. Although there are several evidence-based therapies that are efficacious in reducing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in refugees, many refugees do not have access to these, and, for those who do, a significant proportion do not respond.

The temporal relationship between non-acceptance of positive and negative emotions and psychological symptoms in refugees.

Background: The majority of the world's refugees and asylum-seekers live in transit settings. Despite this, little is known regarding the psychological factors that influence mental health in these contexts. Understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying psychopathology for refugees living in transit settings can inform policy and intervention.

An online intervention designed to reduce self-stigma and increase help-seeking in Arabic-speaking refugees with posttraumatic stress symptoms: A randomized controlled trial.

Despite elevated rates of psychopathology, refugees underutilize mental health services. Mental health self-stigma is a prominent barrier to accessing psychological support; however, there is limited research on intervention approaches to reduce self-stigma among refugees. The present study aimed to provide further support for the Tell Your Story (TYS) intervention in reducing self-stigma and increasing help-seeking among Arabic-speaking male and female refugees.

Experts in traumatic stress are concerned about global impact of what is happening in U.S.

Trauma is a global issue and public health concern. Political decisions may directly impact rates of trauma exposure, be it individual trauma or mass disaster, and guide how we deal with the consequences of trauma. In this editorial, we warn that the current U.

An Experimental Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Flexibility, Negative Affect and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Purpose: Emerging research investigating mechanisms underpinning PTSD has identified emotion regulation (ER) flexibility - the ability to flexibly use ER strategies according to contextual demands - as one promising mechanism. To date, however, no study has investigated whether brief training in ER flexibility can minimise negative affect elicited from evocative stimuli. This study investigated the impact of instructed ER flexibility on emotional responding in probable PTSD.

The longitudinal relationship between psychological symptoms and social functioning in displaced refugees.

Background: Refugee experiences of trauma and displacement can significantly disrupt established social networks. While social functioning has been routinely associated with mental health, to our knowledge, no study has tested the direction of influence between social and psychological functioning within displaced refugee communities. This study investigated the temporal association between psychological symptoms (PTSD, depression, anger) and multiple facets of social functioning (including community connectedness, perceived social responsibility, positive social support and negative social support).

Investigating whether offshore immigration detention and processing are associated with an increased likelihood of psychological disorders.

Immigration policies designed to deter people from seeking asylum are gaining traction in many Western nations, with the UK recently attempting to establish an offshore immigration processing centre in Rwanda. This letter outlines emerging evidence from Australia on the negative long-term psychological effects of offshore processing on people seeking asylum.

Emotion regulation profiles in Syrian refugees and migrants in Germany: self-efficacy, resilience and well-being comparisons.

Background: Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in psychopathology. Understanding person-centred patterns of ER strategies is crucial for prevention and intervention strategies. However, there is a paucity of research on ER profiles and their psychological correlates in forcibly displaced people (FDP).

Torture Exposure Modulates Cognitive Control and Attention Neural Network Connectivity During a Go/NoGo Task.

Background: Torture trauma is characterized by intentional uncontrollable acts, but the long-term effects of torture exposure on cognitive control brain mechanisms are unknown.

Methods: A final sample of 33 torture survivors (TSs) and 44 non-TSs, all with a refugee background, completed a Go/NoGo response inhibition task during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Data-driven independent component analysis identified active networks across the task and on Go, NoGo, and error of commission trials.

The impact of age-related differences in emotion dysregulation on refugee mental health and social outcomes.

The refugee experience is typically characterized by exposure to numerous premigration traumatic events and postmigration stress in the resettlement environment. Refugees' experiences can lead to elevated rates of psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Emotion regulation is a key mechanism contributing to mental health outcomes among refugees.

Moral injury appraisals and complex PTSD in refugees: A longitudinal study.

Objective: Refugees show elevated rates of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). However, relatively little is known regarding the psychological mechanisms that underlie the association between exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and CPTSD following exposure to war, persecution and displacement. In this study, we investigated the potential mediating role of moral injury appraisals (cognitive appraisals regarding the experience and consequences of morally transgressive events) in the association between PTE exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and disturbances in self-organization (DSO) symptoms.

Self-construal modulates default mode network connectivity in refugees with PTSD.

Background: While self-construal and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are independently associated with altered self-referential processes and underlying default mode network (DMN) functioning, no study has examined how self-construal affects DMN connectivity in PTSD.

Methods: A final sample of 93 refugee participants (48 with DSM-5 PTSD or sub-syndromal PTSD and 45 matched trauma-exposed controls) completed a 5-minute resting state fMRI scan to enable the observation of connectivity in the DMN and other core networks. A self-construal index was calculated by substracting scores on the collectivistic and individualistic sub-scales of the Self Construal Scale.

The Development and Validation of a Measure of Mental Health, Help-Seeking Beliefs in Arabic-Speaking Refugees.

Despite reporting elevated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), refugees are less likely than other groups to seek psychological treatment. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of negative help-seeking beliefs in influencing treatment uptake. The current study sought to develop and psychometrically validate a novel measure indexing negative help-seeking beliefs for refugees (Help-Seeking Beliefs Scale [HSBS]).

Opponent intrinsic brain network connectivity profiles associated with posttraumatic fear and dysphoria symptoms in trauma-exposed refugees.

Objective: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) studies report functional alterations in the connectivity between intrinsic brain networks in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but PTSD heterogeneity is rarely considered. Evidence points to fear (e.g.

A summary of the 38th Annual International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Presidential Panel: How the traumatic stress community can assist individuals affected by the war in Ukraine.

As the premier global traumatic stress society, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) has an important role to play in educating and raising awareness about the consequences of traumatic events, such as the war in Ukraine. On November 12, 2022, during its 38th annual meeting, the ISTSS hosted an invited Presidential Panel, chaired by Ananda Amstadter during her term as ISTSS President, that brought together trauma experts Peter Ventevogel, Marit Sijbrandij, Vitalii Klymchuck, Iryna Frankova, and Angela Nickerson to highlight how traumatic stress professionals can assist individuals affected by the war in Ukraine. The present paper summarizes the key points from the panel and discusses future challenges anticipated for people affected by the war.

Refugee visa insecurity disrupts the brain's default mode network.

Background: Research has largely focused on the psychological consequences of refugee trauma exposure, but refugees living with visa insecurity face an uncertain future that also adversely affects psychological functioning and self-determination.

Objective: This study aimed to examine how refugee visa insecurity affects the functional brain.

Method: We measured resting state brain activity via fMRI in 47 refugees with insecure visas (i.

The mental health effects of changing from insecure to secure visas for refugees.

Objective: In response to growing numbers of refugees worldwide, host governments are increasingly implementing temporary protection policies; however, little is known regarding the mental health impact of these policies. This online longitudinal study investigated whether refugees who transitioned from low visa security (e.g.

Investigating the effectiveness of instructing emotion regulation flexibility to individuals with low and high anxiety.

Background And Objectives: Psychopathology has been associated with a deficit in emotion regulation (ER) flexibility - the ability to flexibly utilize ER strategies that are appropriate to situational demands. Yet, whether anxious individuals can be taught ER flexibility, or whether ER flexibility is effective in managing negative affect, remains unknown. We investigated the impact of instructed ER flexibility on emotional responding among individuals with differing levels of anxiety.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Refugees.

The number of refugees and internally displaced people in 2022 is the largest since World War II, and meta-analyses demonstrate that these people experience elevated rates of mental health problems. This review focuses on the role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in refugee mental health and includes current knowledge of the prevalence of PTSD, risk factors, and apparent differences that exist between PTSD in refugee populations and PTSD in other populations. An emerging literature on understanding mechanisms of PTSD encompasses neural, cognitive, and social processes, which indicate that these factors may not function exactly as they have functioned previously in other PTSD populations.

Intolerance of uncertainty, posttraumatic stress, depression, and fears for the future among displaced refugees.

Introduction: The vast majority of the 100 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide live in a state of prolonged uncertainty with limited resettlement prospects and access to resources. Little is known, however, regarding how refugees and asylum-seekers cope with this uncertainty.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the longitudinal association between a measure of how people cope with uncertainty (intolerance of uncertainty (IU)), fears for the future, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and depression symptoms.

The impact of COVID-19 stressors on refugee mental health and well-being in the context of sustained displacement.

Refugees and asylum seekers in contexts of sustained displacement represent particularly vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to identify profiles of COVID-19 stressors in refugees in a transit context (i.e.