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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

by Eu R. Choo, B.A., Doctoral Student, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, USMC and Marianne Cook, LICSW, Clinician, Harvard University Mental Health Service

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a set of symptoms which negatively impact thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors after exposure to extreme trauma. PTSD can occur based on a single event (e.g., a plane crash or an abduction) or because of repeated incidents (e.g. sexual abuse throughout childhood or long-term participation in armed combat). It can involve physical, emotional, or psychological harm — often it involves some combination of the three. People can also develop PTSD through witnessing or hearing about trauma done to others. This is especially common among helping professionals. [More]

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Resource Organizations » Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

9 listing(s), including 1 offering support groups

In Massachusetts

Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute

The Trauma Center is a program of Justice Resource Institute. The Trauma Center provides comprehensive services to traumatized children and adults and their families in the Boston area. In addition to clinical services, The Trauma Center offers training, consultation, and educational programming. The Center's monthly Lecture Series is open to all mental health professionals. The Trauma Center Research Department conducts studies on traumatic memory and how treatment affects trauma survivors' minds, bodies, and brains. The Center's website offers resources on a variety of topics related to trauma.

Worry Wise Kids

This site was launched because of the urgent need to address the growing needs of our children to be equipped to cope with and overcome the stress, worry and anxieties in their life. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for anxious children and their families by providing parents, educators and mental health professionals with comprehensive, user-friendly information on the full range of anxiety disorders. Because children may be secretive about their worries and suffer in silence, our goal is to help adults who care about kids to be on the lookout for red flags. We offer information about treatment options, kid-friendly explanations for the mechanisms that create and maintain anxiety, parenting do's and don'ts, how to handle school issues and more.

Outside Massachusetts

American Trauma Society

The American Trauma Society (ATS) is a leading spokes-organization for trauma care and trauma prevention in the United States. The ATS has been the foremost advocate for trauma victims and their families for the past 30 years and continues to seek optimal care for all trauma victims. The ATS has dedicated its time and resources to the formation and operation of trauma systems across this country. Many members of the ATS are members of trauma teams in communities across the country. They are active in their communities and often are politically active, advocating trauma systems to their governments; federal, state and local. The ATS strongly supports national and state legislation that creates and maintains trauma systems. It works closely with the U.S. Congress, various federal agencies and with the office of the President, supporting legislative and administrative efforts that address the financial and legal issues surrounding trauma. The ATS provides critical information on trauma to its members, to policy makers, and to the public. It supports the needs of families. It is also a strong supporter of injury prevention, creating and producing programs and providing these programs to its members.

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

ISTSS is an international organization that promotes advancement and exchange of knowledge about severe stress and trauma. This knowledge includes understanding the scope and consequences of traumatic exposure, preventing traumatic events and ameliorating their consequences, and advocating for the field of traumatic stress. ISTSS is dedicated to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge about policy, program and service initiatives that seek to reduce traumatic stressors and their immediate and long-term consequences. ISTSS provides a forum for the sharing of research, clinical strategies, public policy concerns and theoretical formulations on trauma in the United States and around the world. The ISTSS website provides multimedia information and resources for the general public on traumatic stress.

National Center for Children Exposed to Violence

It is the mission of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) to increase the capacity of individuals and communities to reduce the incidence and impact of violence on children and families; to train and support the professionals who provide intervention and treatment to children and families affected by violence; and, to increase professional and public awareness of the effects of violence on children, families, communities and society. The NCCEV serves as a national forum for exploring issues surrounding children's exposure to violence and a partner in national collaborations across the country in urban, suburban and rural areas. The NCCEV offers training, technical assistance and consultation to a variety of collaborative community programs. It also provides a wide range of specialized interventions and services. The NCCEV website includes comprehensive information on children and violence.

National Center for PTSD

The National Center for PTSD is dedicated to excellence in research and education on the prevention, understanding, and treatment of PTSD. Its purpose is to improve the well-being and understanding of veterans and others suffering from PTSD. The website includes the definition of PTSD, fact sheets on topics related to PTSD, and information of finding professional help.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Established by Congress in 2000, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is a unique collaboration of academic and community-based service centers whose mission is to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families across the United States. Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in the full range of child traumatic experiences, and attention to cultural perspectives, the NCTSN serves as a national resource for developing and disseminating evidence-based interventions, trauma-informed services, and public and professional education. The website includes information on the types of traumatic stress and resources for parents and caregivers whose children are experiencing traumatic stress.

National Native Children's Trauma Center

The mission of the National Native Childhood Trauma Center is to address high rates of traumatic stress amongst American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children by working under the guidance of U.S. tribal nations in implementing, adapting and evaluating trauma interventions. This work requires understanding, respect and honoring of tribal sovereignty, specific community needs and the use of traditional healing practices. The goals of the Center are to significantly increase and disseminate the number of culturally-relevant, evidence-based interventions for use with AI/AN children (particularly interventions to be delivered in schools) and disseminate these interventions nationally, both on and off reservations and within NCTSN; develop a network of culturally competent, trained educators, mental health providers, and law enforcement personnel who can meet the needs of AI/AN children who experience traumatic stress; and increase the amount of research detailing the processes through which AI/AN children experience and cope with traumatic stress.

Trauma Survivors Network

The Trauma Survivors Network (TSN) is a community of patients and families who are looking to connect with one another and rebuild their lives after a serious injury. The TSN is committed to providing valuable, practical information and referral; connecting survivors with peer mentors and support groups; enhancing survivor skills to manage day to day challenges; developing on-line communities of support and hope for trauma survivors and their families and friends; and training health care providers to deliver the best care and support to patients and their families and friends. Membership in the TSN is free for trauma survivors and their friends and families.

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Additional Sources of Information

• New York Times Health Guides:
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Risk Factors

Publications

List of books, articles and other publications on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

36th Annual National Suicide Prevention Week, September 5th - 11th, 2010. See Families, Community Systems and Suicide, from the American Association of Suicidology.

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The work of Project INTERFACE is supported in part by the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (MCPAP).