Featured Presentations
Special Workshop: Beyond Significance: Understanding the Old and New Generation of Effect Size Statistics
Constance Dalenberg, PhD, Alliant International
University, San Diego, California, USA
Paul
Frewen, PhD, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry,
Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
Friday, November 2
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Featured
Symposia: World Health Organization Preparation of ICD-11: Clinical
Utility of Diagnostic Criteria for Trauma-Related Disorders
Andreas Maercker, PhD, MD, University of Zurich & World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Friday, November 2
1:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Featured Panel: Integrating Biological, Psychological, and Social Variables in Research on Risk, Treatment, and Phenomenology of Traumatic Stress
Alain Brunet, PhD, Douglas Mental Health University
Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Karestan Koenen, PhD, Columbia University, New York,
New York, USA
Bekh Bradley, PhD, Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, Decatur, Georgia, USA
Susan Borja,
PhD, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Friday, November 2
4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Special Workshop: Applications of Dialectical Behavior Therapy to the Treatment of Dissociative Behavior and Other Complex Trauma-Related Problems
Amy Wagner, PhD, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, USA
Saturday, November 3
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Friday, November 2, 2012, 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Special Workshop: Beyond Significance: Understanding the Old
and New Generation of Effect Size Statistics
Constance
Dalenberg, PhD, Alliant International University, San Diego, California,
USA
Paul Frewen, PhD, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western
University, London, Ontario, Canada
Primary Keyword: Research Methodology
Technical Level: Intermediate
Region: Industrialized Countries
Growing numbers of journals are now either strongly advising or even requiring the use of effect size statistics in the presentation of results. This workshop is constructed around a brief description and history of the major families of effect size statistics (zero order and adjusted), including rules of computation, transformation (how to you turn chi square into r or g into d), and appropriate presentation and use. The workshop will include introduction to the newer "common language" effect size statistics.
Dr. Constance Dalenberg is distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Trauma Research Institute at Alliant International University Sam Diego, where she teaches Trauma Assessment and Treatment and Multivariate Statistics. She is associate editor of Psychological Trauma and incoming president of APA Division 56, Trauma Psychology. She also maintains a small clinical and forensic practice in San Diego, California.
Dr. Paul Frewen is a practicing clinical psychologist and assistant professor within the departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Western University in Canada. He has published in the areas of assessment and neuroimaging of trauma-related symptoms including alexithymia, anhedonia, social emotions, and sense of self.
Friday, November 2, 2012, 1:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Featured Symposia: World Health Organization Preparation of
ICD-11: Clinical Utility of Diagnostic Criteria for Trauma-Related
Disorders
Andreas Maercker, PhD, MD, University of Zurich
& World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Primary Keyword: Assessment/Diagnosis
Presentation Level: Introductory
Region: Global
Stress-related disorders (such as PTSD, acute stress reaction) must be differentiated from other mental disorders and from normal, self-limited stress responses. WHO is aware of concern about an overuse of certain stress-related diagnoses, especially among populations that have been exposed to a natural or human-made disaster. A tendency to focus on stress-related diagnoses may be related to the appeal of the simple, external explanation for symptoms, which is suggested by names such as PTSD. There is also significant controversy in the field about some existing or proposed categories that are seen as 'milder', such as adjustment disorder or prolonged grief disorder. Some have challenged the validity and utility of these categories. At the same time, there is evidence that some clinical phenomena that have up to now been considered sub-threshold for diagnosis are associated with poor adjustment and a variety of negative mental health outcomes over time. In general, to help countries to reduce disease burden associated with mental disorders, the classification system must be usable and useful for health care workers around the world. With ICD-11, there appears to be a unique opportunity to produce such a system.
Andreas Maercker, MD, PhD, is professor of psychology and chair of the Psychopathology Division at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He has published on various stress- and trauma-related disorders, e.g. PTSD, Prolonged Grief Disorder and Adjustment Disorder. In June of 2011, Dr. Maercker was appointed as chair of the working group for stress-associated disorders for the development of the ICD-11 by the World Health Organization's, Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Geveva, Switzerland. In collaboration with other international members of this working groups, he has organized a symposium on "World Health Organization Preparation of ICD-11: Clinical Utility of Diagnostic Procedures for Trauma-Related Disorders".
Friday, November 2, 2012, 4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Featured Panel: Integrating Biological, Psychological, and
Social Variables in Research on Risk, Treatment, and Phenomenology of
Traumatic Stress
Alain Brunet, PhD, Douglas Mental Health
University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Karestan Koenen, PhD, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
Bekh Bradley, PhD, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Decatur, Georgia,
USA
Susan Borja, PhD, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda,
Maryland, USA
Primary Keyword: Biological/medical/Neuroscience
Presentation Level: Intermediate
Region: Global
This panel discussion will include presentations describing some of the research that has successfully integrated biological and psychosocial variables in studies of traumatic stress and discussion of ideas for future research. The first presentation by ISTSS President-Elect Dr. Karestan Koenen will focus on the interplay of genetic variables, including DNA sequence variation and epigenetic markers, and psychosocial variables in risk for traumatic stress over the life course.
In the second presentation, Dr. Bekh Bradley will describe research on the role of neurohormones in trauma responses and recovery and the interaction of trauma-related physiological and psychological processes and how they might inform treatment. Presenters will also identify critical questions that need to be addressed, methods that need to be developed, and potential obstacles to progress in these areas.
Discussion of ideas about how the field might expand on this work and how National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) program priorities can inform that expansion will be led by Dr. Susan Borja who is program chief of the Dimensional Measurement and Intervention Program in the Division of Adult Translational Research and Treatment Development of the NIMH (U.S.)
Saturday, November 3, 2012, 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Special Workshop: Applications of Dialectical Behavior
Therapy to the Treatment of Dissociative Behavior and Other Complex
Trauma-Related Problems
Amy Wagner, PhD, Portland VA
Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, USA
Primary Keyword: Clinical Practice
Presentation Level: Introductory
Region: Industrialized Countries
Individuals who have experienced multiple and/or severe traumatic experiences during development often present with a wide range of problems related to severe emotion dysregulation. The complexity and heterogeneity of this population pose unique challenges for clinicians, as existing protocol treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often insufficient or existing problems may interfere with the delivery of these treatments (e.g., dissociative or suicidal behavior).
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is based on empirically supported principles (as opposed to protocols) that lead to individualized case formulations and treatment plans to treat the interpersonal, emotional, and behavioral difficulties of individuals with severe emotion dysregulation.
This workshop will overview the principles of DBT, procedures for developing individualized case formulations and determining empirically-based interventions (based on behavioral analyses), and key DBT interventions, including DBT skills. Applications to the treatment of dissociative behavior and other complex trauma-related problems will be emphasized. Considerations for determining whether to initiate empirically-based (protocol) treatments for PTSD in this population will be discussed.