Although genetic factors appear to contribute substantially to the onset of psychotic disorders, environmental factors also influence the development and course of psychosis. One environmental risk factor that has been robustly associated with multiple psychosis outcomes is exposure to traumatic life events (TLEs). Specifically, TLEs have been associated with increased risk of psychotic disorders, with the prodrome of psychosis, and with dimensional measures of psychotic symptoms, such as attenuated positive psychotic symptoms. Nevertheless, TLEs have been linked to various mental disorders; therefore, the specificity of TLEs to psychosis remains unclear. Similarly, the mechanisms underlying the TLE-psychosis relation have not been fully delineated. The current project addressed these gaps by exploring three areas within the field of TLEs and psychosis. The first is by reviewing the literature on two understudied areas of the trauma and psychosis literature: 1) the specificity between trauma and psychosis in relation to other disorders that often result post-trauma, and 2) proposed mechanisms that uniquely link trauma to psychosis. Second, this project tested whether attentional biases, present in samples with trauma histories and experiencing attenuated forms of psychosis, were similar within both populations. Third, this project examined multiple putative mechanisms influencing the association between TLEs and attenuated psychosis that have been proposed, but not fully tested, in psychosis research, including dissociation, negative self-schemas, negative other-schemas, external locus of control, and stress sensitivity. Analysis of variance suggested that individuals with TLE histories demonstrate attentional biases for physical abuse words and overall TLE-related words, but that experiencing attenuated positive psychotic symptoms does not increase attentional biases in conjunction with a TLE history. Additionally, a bootstrapping method for examining multiple mediation indicated that increases in dissociation, negative self- and other-schemas, external locus of control, and perceived stress mediate the relationship between TLEs and attenuated psychosis. Collectively, this project underscores the importance of targeting multiple cognitive-based mechanisms that may emerge post-trauma in order to reduce psychotic-like experiences or disorders. / Psychology

To assess a wide range of stressors and traumas, we developed a trauma and stressors exposure checklist for adults to capture a wide variety of potential trauma exposure. This study details the extensive development and validation process of the Comprehensive Trauma and Stressors Checklist (CTSC). Study 1 consisted of item pool generation, review of existing trauma measures, content analysis, and expert review and input. Study 2 analyzed reliability and validity of the updated checklist. Participants were recruited from college and community samples (N = 200) and completed the CTSC along with five additional measures. The CTSC demonstrated high internal consistency (α =.96). Good temporal stability was established with a subset of participants (n = 28) who completed the survey twice for test-retest reliability (r = 0.86, p < .001). Significant correlations between scores on the CTSC and the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire, Life Events Checklist for the DSM-5, Intersectional Discrimination Index, and Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire are evidence of strong convergent validity. Finally, the lack of significant correlations between CTSC scores and theoretically unrelated constructs supported the discriminant validity of the CTSC. This study provides preliminary evidence that the CTSC is a reliable and valid measure of exposure to traumas and stressors. Future studies with the CTSC will examine measurement invariance, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and reading level.

Creature from the Unconscious is a reflexive genre hybrid film that follows the process of the director's journey of navigating the process of self-acceptance and self-love in the wake of trauma.

A LOT OF BLOOD ON BODY WITH UNKNOWN TRAUMA is a novel following X as she uncovers and absorbs the traumas that unravel her family.

Conceptualizing mental health difficulties among a pediatric oncology population from a traumatic stress perspective is gaining speed. Research has shown support for the development of posttraumatic stress reactions among chronically ill children and their family members. Despite this evidence, the majority of intervention studies have not incorporated key trauma-informed intervention components that have proven to be effective in symptom reduction for trauma-exposed children. Examining key aspects of both the child trauma and pediatric psychology fields have enabled researchers to meld their strengths into one comprehensive approach. This revised perspective has clinical implications for the development of prevention and intervention techniques that are more likely to yield superior outcomes. Yet, an evidence-based, trauma-informed intervention for youth has not yet been empirically examined among a pediatric oncology population. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of TF-CBT intervention program for children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer and their parents. Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study that utilized a single-subject, non-concurrent multiple baseline design to assess the efficacy of TF-CBT intervention. A sample of five youth (ages 9 to 15) and seven parents enrolled in the study; three youth and five parents completed their participation in the study. Manualized treatment consisted of six sessions lasting approximately two hours per session (including child and parent) that targeted psychoeducation, relaxation training, affective identification and expression skills, cognitive processes, coping strategies, trauma processing, and family processes. Examined constructs, including posttraumatic stress symptomatology, depression, quality of life, parenting stress, coping utilization, coping efficacy, somatization, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms, were assessed by child self-report, parent report, and parent self-report at enrollment (baseline), post-treatment, and one-, and three-month follow-up. Results: Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA) revealed a statistically significant reduction, from baseline to intervention, for one parent's PTSS (R = -0.711, p = .027) and another parent's PTSS reduction approached significance (R = -0.747, p = .055). Comparatively, no significant reduction was found for child PTSS. One child showed a significant improvement in coping efficacy (R = 0.619, p = .048) as a function of the intervention, and an additional two child participants approached significance (R = 0.618, p = .055; R = 0.689, p = .094). Visual inspection of the data did reveal noteworthy reductions for some study participants in both domain specific (i.e., PTSS) and broader psychological outcomes (e.g., quality of life, somatization, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, etc.). Conclusions: These results provide some support for a trauma-informed CBT intervention for pediatric oncology patients in remission and their parents. / Ph. D.

The extant theories in PTSD describe significant initial symptom reactions, and these reactions may provide opportunities for clearer early identification and treatment of PTSD. There are empirically identified trajectories of PTSD, which indicates there is a critical starting point to those trajectories. Generally, theories and results suggest that the re-experiencing (Cluster B) and hyperarousal (Cluster E) symptoms are common reactions after traumatic events, while hyperarousal and negative cognitions and mood (Cluster D) clusters are generally identified as the most important and/or predictive. Thus, this dissertation utilized retrospective reports in order to identify initial symptom reactions and then subsequently predict PTSD severity over time. Participants included college women who experienced sexual and relationship violence within the past 2 years. Two primary hypotheses were investigated within the dissertation: 1) Cluster B and E symptoms were expected to be the most prevalent initial reactions reported, and 2) Clusters E and D were expected to significantly predict PTSD severity over time. The results indicated partial support for each hypothesis, such that Cluster B symptoms were among the most prevalent initial reactions and Cluster D was a significant predictor of PTSD severity over time. Specifically, earlier Cluster D ordering interacted with the presence of negative beliefs and loss of positive emotions to predict PTSD severity over time. / Doctor of Philosophy / There are ideas and theories about how posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) starts and gets worse. People develop PTSD in different ways; some develop it very quickly and it is very bad, while others develop it slowly and it may not affect them much at all. The first signs and symptoms may be the best place to look, much like when you first get a cough or a sore throat with a cold or the flu. Generally, research suggests that common reactions are re-living the trauma and having reactions like being on guard all the time. Being on guard all the time also may be one of those important symptoms that will help predict if someone will get PTSD, as well as experiencing things such as thinking harsh things about oneself. This dissertation included reports from people after they had experienced trauma in order to figure out those first symptoms. Then, it used those first symptoms to predict how bad their PTSD was in the weeks and months later. Participants included college women who experienced sexual assault and domestic violence within the past 2 years. The results showed that people often re-live the trauma, but it may not be the most important when predicting whether they will get PTSD or not. Negative thoughts and beliefs about oneself were the most important set of reactions when predicting who will get PTSD and how badly. More importantly, the earlier they had those negative thoughts, the worse their PTSD was in the coming weeks and months.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2013. / Domestic violence is rife in South Africa and the negative impact thereof is brought by survivors into their homes, communities and workplace settings. Trauma counsellors often take on the work responsibility of intervening in cases of domestic violence to meet the needs of the survivor. Adopting a qualitative research design, the researcher explored the perceptions of trauma counsellors in their workplace setting regarding intervention strategies used when providing services to survivors of domestic violence. Purposive sampling was used to identify 13 adult lay trauma counsellors, both male and female employed by a non-government institution operating as a 24-7 hour Crisis Hotline in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area. The researcher gathered data by conducting personal, semi-structured interviews with research participants. Data analysis took the form of Thematic Content Analysis. The researcher identified that the participants seemed not to be aware of workplace systems and procedural guidelines, and tended to adopt a personalized approach in dealing with survivors of domestic violence. Most participants managed cases utilising ‘early crisis intervention models’ as a once-off trauma intervention strategy although they did not perceive it as being effective. It is thus recommended that such stand-alone intervention strategies should not be implemented unless further follow-up or after-care support is offered to the survivors of domestic violence.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research focuses on the displacement of families in the Western Cape during apartheid within the context of its slave past.The transmission of intergenerational trauma has been based on research on holocaust survivors. Aboriginal academic writers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US found that initial studies of intergenerational trauma did not take into the account the historical trauma of colonialism which they believe has left its mark on aboriginal communities today. In South Africa writers from the Apartheid Archives Project have started to focus on the intergenerational trauma of apartheid. These are mainly academics from psychology and not social work. The Apartheid Archives Project and social work discourse do not focus on the historical trauma of slavery. Historians believe that slavery has still left a mark on its descendants in the Western Cape. The families in this research are descendants of slaves and they were also displaced as a result of the Group Areas Act during apartheid. Qualitative research using a postcolonial indigenous paradigm was adopted in this study. Life histories, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were the primary sources of data collection. The research design was a multiple case study which consisted of 7 families where each family was a case and 3 generations in each family were interviewed. The families had typical slave surnames and at least one generation was displaced as a result of the forced removals when the Group Areas Act (1950-1985) was implemented during apartheid. Thematic analysis, narrative thematic analysis and case study analysis was adopted .In addition narrative therapy theory and collective narrative practice was used to decolonise the conceptual framework and methodology. The trauma of displacement and historical trauma of slavery was not acknowledged as traumatic by the dominant society because South African society was based on institutional racism. The grief and loss of the trauma therefore became unresolved and disenfranchised. The findings indicate that disenfranchised grief, silence, socialisation in institutional racism and shame have been the main mechanisms in which the historical trauma of slavery and trauma of displacement has been transmitted within the families. The effects such as intimate partner violence and substance abuse and community violence in the form of gang violence are forms of internalised oppression which has also been transmitted intergenerationally. In addition overcrowding, poor housing and poverty has been transmitted via socialisation which is a societal mechanism of trauma transmission. vi The research findings indicate that the trauma of displacement and historical trauma of slavery was transmitted because the trauma was not included in the social discourse of society. In order to prevent the transmission of the historical trauma of slavery and displacement, the real effects of institutional , cultural and interpersonal racism need to be understood and the counter-memories and counter-histories of slaves and their descendants need to be included in social discourse. A framework to assist social workers in engaging with trauma transmission in families has been proposed in order to interrupt the trauma transmission in families.

Posthumanist rhetoric is informed by developments in the sciences and the humanities which suggest that mind and body are not distinct from each other and, therefore, claims of humans’ superiority over other animals based on cognitive differences may not be justified. Posthumanist rhetoric, then, seeks to re-imagine the human and its relationship to the world. Though “post-” implies after, like other “post-” terms, posthumanism also coexists with humanism. This dissertation develops a concept of posthumanist rhetoric as questioning humanist assumptions about subjectivity while remaining entangled in them. The destabilization of the human subject means that new identifications between humans and nonhumans are possible, and the ethical implications of the rhetorical strategies used to build them have yet to be worked out. Identification, a key aim of rhetoric in the theory of Kenneth Burke and others, can persuade an audience to value others. However, it can also obscure the realities of who does and does not benefit from particular arguments, particularly when animal suffering is framed as human-like trauma with psychological and cultural as well as physical effects. I argue that a posthumanist practice of rhetoric demonstrates ways of circumventing this problem by persuading readers not only to care about others, but also to understand that our ability to comprehend another’s subjectivity is limited and that acknowledging these limitations is a method of caring. his dissertation locates instances of resistance to and/or deployment of posthumanist critique in recent works of literature; identifies language commonly used in appeals that create identifications between humans and animals; and analyzes the implications of these rhetorical strategies. To that end, I have selected texts about human and animal suffering that engage particular themes of identification that recur in posthumanist rhetoric. The chapters pair texts that develop each theme differently. Most undermine human superiority as a species, but many reify the importance of certain qualities of the liberal humanist subject by granting them to nonhumans. The points of identification created between humans and nonhumans will inform how we re-imagine the human subject to account for our connections, and therefore our responsibilities, to other beings.