Publications by authors named "Meaghan O'Donnell"

Importance: Many survivors of traumatic injuries are affected by mental disorders, which has recently led to the publication of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). However, there is no comprehensive synthesis of guideline recommendations to inform clinicians on those that should be prioritized for implementation and thus promote adherence to them.

Objective: To identify guideline recommendations for the prevention and management of mental disorders in patients with traumatic injuries, appraise their quality, and synthesize the quality of evidence and the strength of included recommendations.

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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).

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Background: Problem anger is common after experiencing trauma and is under-recognized relative to other posttraumatic mental health issues. Previous research has shown that digital mental health tools have significant potential to support individuals with problem anger after trauma.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the co-design and development of a just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) targeting problem anger in individuals who have experienced trauma.

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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.

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Digital technologies offer tremendous potential to predict dysregulated mood and behavior within an individual's environment, and in doing so can support the development of new digital health interventions. However, no prediction models have been built in trauma-exposed populations that leverage real-world data. This project aimed to determine if wearable-derived physiological data can predict anger intensity in trauma-exposed adults.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a critical gap in our knowledge on the impact on mental health, especially trauma-related disorders like PTSD. With future pandemics anticipated due to global health risks, it is essential to rigorously study the prevalence of PTSD resulting from COVID-19. Such research will help us understand the psychological effects of pandemics and develop better strategies for mental health support in future crises.

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Problematic anger affects up to 30% of individuals who have experienced trauma. Digital mental health approaches, such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) delivered via smartphone and wearable devices (i.e.

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Individuals exposed to disasters are at high risk of developing mental health conditions, yet the availability of mental health practitioners is often limited. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the quality of the evidence for psychosocial interventions that can be delivered by non-mental health workers in the context of disasters. Searches were performed in PsycInfo, EMBASE, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, CINAHL, Global Health, PubMed, and SCOPUS, from inception through to November 2024, to identify studies of relevance.

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Emotion regulation is a topic of growing interest in the field of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite the field's concentrated efforts in this area, the research has not matched advancements in the general emotion regulation literature, which have proposed more holistic models to understanding to how individuals identify and respond to emotions. In looking at emotion regulation in PTSD, this paper reviews the current state of the literature using the Extended Process Model proposed by Gross (2015).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Although trauma-focused psychotherapy (T-F psychotherapy) is the treatment of choice for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), up to one half of patients do not respond to this treatment. Attempts to improve response to T-F psychotherapy have focused on augmenting fear extinction-based factors. Here, a systematic and meta-analytic review of predictors of T-F psychotherapy outcome was conducted with the goal of using an aggregate data-driven approach to elucidate baseline factors associated with treatment outcome.

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Objectives: Following disaster exposure, a significant proportion of children/adolescents will develop levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) that do not meet diagnostic threshold for PTSD, but which cause ongoing distress. This paper describes the development and pilot testing of a brief, scalable, psychosocial intervention. SOLAR-Kids/Teens has been designed to be delivered by non-mental health professionals ('coaches') to children/adolescents experiencing moderate levels of PTSS following disasters.

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The European Journal of Psychotraumatology has had a long interest in advancing the science around climate change and traumatic stress. In this special issue, we include papers that responded to a special call in this area. Six major themes emerge from these papers and together they contribute to trauma and adversity model of the mental health impacts of climate change.

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Article Synopsis
  • PTSD genetics have been difficult to study compared to other psychiatric disorders, limiting our biological understanding of the condition.
  • A large-scale meta-analysis involving over 1.2 million individuals identified 95 genome-wide significant loci, with 80 being new discoveries related to PTSD.
  • Researchers identified 43 potential causal genes linked to neurotransmitter activity, developmental processes, synaptic function, and immune regulation, enhancing our knowledge of the neurobiological systems involved in PTSD.
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Introduction: Mental disorders are common in adult patients with traumatic injuries. To limit the burden of poor psychological well-being in this population, recognised authorities have issued recommendations through clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). However, the uptake of evidence-based recommendations to improve the mental health of trauma patients has been low until recently.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explored the prevalence and impact of adjustment disorder in individuals who experienced bushfires over a 10-year period, revealing that approximately 16-19% reported adjustment difficulties at different time points.
  • Data was collected from 802 participants three to four years post-fire, then 596 five years later, and finally 436 ten years after, using various psychological assessments to gauge their mental health.
  • The findings indicated that early adjustment issues significantly increased the risk of developing more severe psychiatric disorders later, and highlighted the need for psychosocial interventions to support disaster survivors.
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First responders experience mental health conditions at a higher rate than the general population. To improve treatment and enhance quality of care, it is important to understand the needs of those who provide mental health treatment to this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the needs of mental health providers with experience working with first responders to better understand how first responders differ from community patients, and what training and supports providers need to enhance treatment.

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Alexithymia, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly related constructs. The ongoing debate about the nature and relationship between these constructs is perpetuated by an overreliance on cross-sectional research. We examined the longitudinal interactive relationship between alexithymia, psychological distress, and PTSD.

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Alexithymia is the inability to identify and recognize emotions. The present study examined the impact of alexithymia on prolonged exposure (PE) therapy. Participants ( 68) with PTSD underwent 10 PE sessions.

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Article Synopsis
  • PTSD genetics are harder to study compared to other mental health disorders, resulting in limited biological insights from past research.
  • A large-scale analysis involving over 1.2 million individuals found 95 significant genetic loci related to PTSD, with 80 being new discoveries.
  • The study identified 43 potential causal genes linked to neurotransmitters, synaptic function, and immune responses, enhancing understanding of PTSD's biological mechanisms and suggesting new research directions.
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There is a demonstrated association between alexithymia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, work has largely focused on male-dominant, high-risk occupation populations. We aimed to explore the relationship between posttraumatic stress (PTS) and alexithymia among 100 trauma-exposed female university students.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study looked at the long-term effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on patients who had experienced traumatic injuries, assessing over 1,000 individuals during their hospital stay and follow-ups at 3 and 12 months.
  • Researchers found that even after PTSD symptoms had resolved, patients reported significantly poorer quality of life across various areas, such as psychological, physical, social, and environmental wellbeing, compared to those who never developed PTSD.
  • The findings suggest that PTSD can lead to lasting functional impairments even after the condition itself appears to have improved, highlighting the need for ongoing support for these patients.
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