Placebo’s (positive expectancies producing positive outcomes) and nocebo’s (negative expectancies producing negative outcomes) are real and measurable effects. Real as these effects may be, predicting individuals that may be susceptible to placebo/nocebo effects has been inconsistent. The present study examined whether measures designed to assess somatization (MSPQ), catastrophizing (PCS) and childhood trauma (CTQ) would predict placebo and nocebo membership. In addition, measures designed to assess anxiety (ASI) anxiety about pain (PASS) and depression (BDI) were evaluated to determine whether anxiety or depression mediates responsiveness. The Hargreaves Thermal Withdrawal test and the submaximal effort tourniquet technique were employed as pain vehicles for the measurement of group differences. No significant effects of planned analyses were observed. However, unplanned analyses of childhood trauma subscales indicated that physical and emotional abuse predicted placebo response. Additionally, emotional neglect trended toward predicting nocebo responsiveness. These results indicate that further studies, correcting for weaknesses, is warranted.

Wesley McNair said that poets, more than others, are troubled by the transience of life, and they write poems to preserve the experience—to say, “I was here, and my being here meant something.” Lucky Boy is a collection informed by experience—childhood trauma, limitations of place and circumstance, the messy transition from boyhood to manhood. The poems are my attempt to preserve and elevate these experiences, to acknowledge their complicatedness, and to celebrate the role they played in making a poet

Impulsivity, venturesomeness, and pride variables were examined as potential moderators of the associations between childhood trauma and physical aggression, alcohol use and physical aggression, and drug use and physical aggression. Participants (n = 457) were college students recruited from a university in the Southeast. It was hypothesized that childhood trauma, alcohol use, and drug use would be associated with increased scores of physical aggression. In addition, it was hypothesized that impulsivity, venturesomeness, authentic pride, and hubristic pride would moderate these relationships. Linear, multivariate hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine these variables as potential moderators. Hypotheses concerning hubristic pride as a moderator of the relationship between alcohol use and physical aggression as well as the relationship between drug use and physical aggression were supported. In addition, the hypothesis concerning authentic pride as a moderator of the relationship between alcohol use and physical aggression was supported albeit in the opposite direction than predicted. Hypotheses concerning the moderating roles of impulsivity and venturesomeness were not supported. Findings support the idea that the deleterious psychological effects of substance use can be compounded by personality factors such as authentic and hubristic pride. The discussion encompasses why interventions should target attributions and cognitions and why simply encouraging someone to have a more “healthy pride” is likely to be ineffective at reducing physical aggression in the context of drug use and alcohol use.

Victims of childhood trauma are vulnerable to substance abuse due to their inability to develop coping skills following trauma, which can lead to criminal and violent behavior. Guided by the ecodevelopmental theory, this phenomenological study attempted to relate the perceived experiences of violent behaviors as a result of methamphetamine use in women to the types of childhood trauma the women experienced. Fourteen women were recruited using purposive sampling in collaboration with the South Brunswick Counseling Center, based on inclusion criteria that included being over the age of 18; having abstained from methamphetamine use for at least a year; having experienced a childhood trauma including physical, sexual, emotional/verbal abuse or neglect; and having perpetrated violence against others as an adult while under the influence of methamphetamine. Data were analyzed using Moustakas' qualitative analysis method and revealed 5 themes: unresolved anger over childhood trauma, 'roller coaster of emotions,' lack of coping resources, initial negative influences, and therapist influence. The participants confirmed previous research findings that unresolved anger over past childhood trauma is the main consequence associated with methamphetamine-induced violence. The study impacts social change by adding to the body of knowledge regarding the shared experiences of these women between childhood trauma and methamphetamine-induced violence. These findings could aid in the development of community-based prevention and intervention programs for victims of childhood trauma, mental health professionals establishing evidence-based interventions, and victims' parents, who are susceptible to substance abuse and resulting violence.

No description available.

Objective Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a common and serious mental illness, associated with severe emotional dysregulation, a high risk of suicide and self-harm. Those with a diagnosis of BPD often display difficulties with social interaction, making daily life problematic, and sufferers can struggle to form and maintain interpersonal relationships. Childhood trauma is believed to contribute to the development of BPD, however the mechanism by which childhood trauma increases risk for specific symptoms of the disorder is not well understood. Here, we investigate the ability of participants with a diagnosis of BPD to make social judgements and recognise emotions from facial stimuli. We also explore the relationship between childhood trauma, brain structure, and brain activation in response to emotional stimuli. Methods Individuals with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, as well as matched healthy controls, were recruited to take part in a neuropsychology study of emotion recognition and social judgement from faces. Participants also underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, during which data was collected for analysis of brain structure, and brain function in response to emotional faces. In addition, all participants completed a structured clinical interview and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results Individuals with a diagnosis of BPD were less well able to correctly identify facial emotions than healthy control participants (p < 0.001), with a particular deficit in the recognition of disgust (p = 0.001). Those with BPD also had difficulty making appropriate social judgements about others from their faces, and between group differences were greatest for judgements of approachability (p = 0.004) and trustworthiness (p = 0.014). Significant correlations were identified between CTQ scores and performance on both tasks in the BPD group. Although no structural brain differences were noted between the BPD group and healthy controls, we found that brain activation correlated to childhood trauma in midbrain, pulvinar and medial frontal gyrus to fearful (versus neutral) faces. There was a significant association between incidence of abuse in childhood and psychotic symptoms in adulthood. In addition, there was a significant correlation between midbrain activation and reported psychotic symptoms in the BPD group, suggesting a potential relationship between childhood trauma, midbrain activity and the development of psychotic symptoms in those with a diagnosis of BPD. Conclusion Abuse in childhood is associated with impaired social and emotional function, as well as increased activation of a network of brain regions in response to emotional stimuli in BPD. Brain abnormalities in BPD appear to be confined to functional activation changes, rather than structural changes, in regions associated with emotional and social information processing. In addition, childhood trauma is correlated with increased psychotic symptoms in adulthood. These results provide striking evidence for the involvement of childhood adversity in the development of symptoms of BPD, and suggest a possible mechanism by which psychotic symptoms may occur.

abstract: Research in the area of childhood trauma has shown a substantial amount of psychological maladjustment following the experience of traumatic events in childhood. Trauma survivors are at risk for developing a multitude of adverse psychological outcomes as well as unsafe behaviors following the event of trauma. One unifying theme within these psychological sequelae is the nature of impulsive behaviors. Delay-discounting refers to the subjective decrease in value of a reward when its presentation is delayed. Delay-discounting is often used as an index of impulsive behavior. This study poses two primary questions: 1) Can childhood trauma predict rates of delay-discounting? 2) Could delay-discounting predict psychological maladjustment for individuals who have experienced childhood trauma? This study will seek to answer these questions using an online version of the Kirby et al., 1999 hypothetical delay-discounting method, as well as the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), to measure trait impulsivity. Measures of depression (BDI-II), life events (LEC), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C), and drug and alcohol abuse (DAST-20) will also be included. Participants included a sample of university students ages 18-52 (n=521, females = 386, males = 135) with a mean age of 25.19 years. Results indicated that childhood trauma was not a significant predictor of delay-discounting rate, nor was delay-discounting rate a significant predictor of psychological maladjustment. Limitations and future directions are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2012

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / This study investigated the factor analytic structure of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(CTQ) in school-going adolescents in the greater Cape Town area. This questionnaire is a retrospective method, assessing childhood exposure to trauma in the form of emotional abuse,physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect (Bernstein & Fink,1998). The data used originated from a survey where several questionnaires including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were used to examine perceived stress and resilience in adolescence. The primary study found that there is extensive published research on trauma exposure in adolescents. However, the investigators found that there is a lack of research on actual perceived stress in the context of certain traumatic experiences. This study examined one of the questionnaires used in the primary study, the CTQ. The question of how the factors cluster in a sample of 631participants between the ages of 11 and 18 was answered by using exploratory factor analysis. Three factor analyses, using principal component analysis and Varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalisation were run. The three factor analyses are (i) the entire sample (adolescents, both trauma exposed and non trauma–exposed) (ii) the sample with moderate/severe childhood trauma and (iii) the sample with mild/no childhood trauma.The results of the current study revealed that for group one, five rotated factors were yielded that accounted for 59.22% of the variance among items, for group two, eight rotated factors was extracted that accounts for 62.47% of the variance among items and for group three, nine rotated factors which accounted for 65.38% of variance among the items was yielded.After conceptual analysis, it was found that only group two held to the five-factor stucture described in the CTQ's manual. This indicates that the severity of trauma exposure does affect the factor structure of the CTQ in this sample of school-going adolescents.

No description available.

This article discusses early childhood trauma and the negative long-term consequences that can cause life-long medical and psychological deficiencies. Early childhood trauma, especially complex trauma, can cause neurobiological changes that impact human development and cause significant changes in brain function. These changes in brain structures are responsible for cognitive and physical functioning. Empirical evidence suggests that childhood trauma is associated with physical, mental, and emotional symptoms that can persist into adulthood. This article examines the impact of trauma exposure; neurologically, physiologically, and psychologically. The long-term consequences of trauma exposure, such as substance abuse, incarceration, and co-occurring psychiatric problems are discussed along with the importance of recognizing protective factors, examining resiliency, and identifying empirically based treatment modalities to help alleviate symptoms of trauma survivors.