Treating Psychological Trauma and PTSD

Much has been learned about PTSD in the past two decades, yet many questions remain about the complex pathways by which trauma disrupts people's lives. This authoritative volume presents an innovative psychobiological framework to help clinicians and researchers better understand the myriad difficulties facing patients and navigate the array of available intervention approaches. Incorporating the latest theory and clinical research, the book provides a crucial reformulation of diagnostic criteria and treatment goals. It then brings together leading treatment experts to describe and illustrate their respective approaches, facilitating the selection and implementation of the most effective interventions for individual patients.

The book first delineates a holistic, organismic model of PTSD. Particular attention is given to how the concept of allostatic load has enabled contemporary investigators to gain a more dynamic view of human stress responses and how they may go awry. Aided by clearly presented tables and charts, the volume elucidates the process by which traumatic experiences can give rise to 65 symptoms contained within five symptom clusters. Augmenting the traditional domains of PTSD symptomatology/m-/physiological disturbances, traumatic memory, and avoidance/m-/are two additional clusters dealing with frequently encountered problems with self and identity and with attachment, intimacy, and personal relationships. Contributors then provide detailed presentations of core therapeutic approaches: acute posttraumatic interventions, cognitive-behavioral approaches, pharmacotherapy, group psychotherapy, and psychodynamic techniques, as well as approaches for special populations. The concluding section reviews and synthesizes all case material presented, examining which symptoms are addressed by each modality, which treatment objectives are met, and which clients are likely to be helped.