Evidence Based Treatments for Trauma-Related Psychological Disorders: A Practical Guide for Clinicians

This book offers an evidence based guide for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and other clinicians working with trauma survivors in various settings. It provides easily digestible, up-to-date information on the basic principles of traumatic stress research and practice, including psychological and sociological theories as well as epidemiological, psychopathological, and neurobiological findings. However, as therapists are primarily interested in how to best treat their traumatized patients, the core focus of the book is on evidence based psychological treatments for trauma-related mental disorders. Importantly, the full range of trauma and stress related disorders is covered, including Acute Stress Reaction, Complex PTSD and Prolonged Grief Disorder, reflecting important anticipated developments in diagnostic classification. Each of the treatment chapters begins with a short summary of the theoretical underpinnings of the approach, presents a case illustrating the treatment protocol, addresses special challenges typically encountered in implementing this treatment, and ends with an overview of related outcomes and other research findings. Additional chapters are devoted to the treatment of comorbidities, special populations and special treatment modalities and to pharmacological treatments for trauma-related disorders. The book concludes by addressing the fundamental question of how to treat whom, and when.

About the Author

Dr. Marylene Cloitre a Research Health Science Specialist at the National Center for PTSD Dissemination and Training Division at the Palo Alto VA Health Care Services, California, USA. She is also Clinical Professor (Affiliate) of the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her research and clinical work for the past 30 years has focused on the long-term effects of childhood trauma on social and emotional functioning. Her current research is dedicated to the development of effective, patient-tailored, flexibly-delivered mental health programs for trauma exposed populations. She was the founding director of the Institute for Trauma and Recovery at the New York University Langone Child Study Center following 9/11 and was a member of the advisory board for the planning of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Dr. Cloitre is past-president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) ICD-11 working group on trauma-spectrum disorders. She is also the 2015 recipient of the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Practice of Trauma Psychology from Division 56 of the American Psychological Association.