International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

Ever since the release of her first album in 1992, the singer-songwriter Iris Dement has earned wide recognition and respect for her work. Her 2012 album, Sing the Delta, includes the song, The Night I Learned How Not to Pray. In the few minutes of her rendition of the song, Dement’s words, music and voice show the profound, long-lasting effects of traumatic loss, especially in childhood.
 

Worldwide lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is estimated to be approximately 4 percent (Kessler et al., 2017), and numerous factors are associated with elevated risk of diagnosis (e.g., trauma type, military/veteran population, gender; Gates et al., 2012; Kessler et al., 2017; Lehavot et al., 2018).

Trainee burnout is a concept that has been openly discussed with supervisors more during my internship training than during all of graduate school. I have been fortunate to have supervisors who ask, “Have you eaten lunch today?” “Did you get a chance to sit and conceptually think about that case?” and even, “What did you do this weekend that was fun for you?” It was in those moments it became clear: I was stuck in the graduate school mentality.