Physical and sexual violence, war, accidents & traumatic events are widely varied and can affect anyone and lead to severe mental illness. We now have extensive knowledge of the psychophysical development processes involved in post-traumatic stress disorders. At the same time, various disorder-specific psychotherapy methods have been developed for treating them. In this anthology, renowned authors from the scientific and practical fields present new and proven, evidence-based forms of therapy for trauma sequelae from the viewpoint of different psychotherapeutic methods. Outpatient and residential treatment methods, as well as therapies for adults as well as children and adolescents are taken into account.

The peritraumatic cognitive process of mental defeat, the complete loss of inner resistance, has been identified as a key predictor of PTSD. Yet, most evidence on cognitive risk factors stems from industrialized countries where survivors typically report few traumata. Research from postconflict settings indicates that individual differences decrease with accumulating traumatic experiences, as almost everybody develops PTSD at extreme levels of trauma load. Would this leave less room for the impact of cognitive processes? In a sample of 227 Ugandan rebel war survivors, we investigated whether mental defeat influences trauma-related psychopathology in regression models accounting for cumulative trauma exposure. We found strong main effects of mental defeat on lifetime PTSD risk, current PTSD severity and dissociative symptoms, but no mental defeat × trauma load interaction effects. Our results indicate that peritraumatic mental defeat is central to understand individual differences in psychological reactions after single traumatic events as well as multiple traumatization.

Abstract: Background Peri- and post-traumatic factors predict the differential development of stress-associated mental disorders. Prospective designs assessing these risk factors in real-time under controlled experimental conditions can overcome limitations of retrospective designs. Therefore, we aimed to investigate multi-sensory, experimental analogues of a traumatic experience delivered in Virtual Reality (VR) or Script-Driven Imagery (SDI). Methods In a randomised controlled crossover design, differences in the induced analogue trauma symptoms between multi-sensory analogue trauma by either VR or SDI versus a neutral condition were assessed in 127 non-clinical participants. Results Analogue symptoms (psychophysiological responses, coping behaviour and intrusive memories of the experimental trauma) increased following analogue trauma in both VR and SDI, with more analogue symptoms for VR. Psychophysiological arousal was in general higher in VR. Limitations The analogue trauma situation of a car park fire that was used may be infrequent in real life. Conclusions Multisensory (vision, olfaction, hearing) analogue trauma in VR and SDI offers a useful tool for the induction and real-time assessment of peri- and post-traumatic risk factors for analogue stress-associated psychopathology. VR was more effective in inducing analogue symptoms than SDI, even though the latter might be more personalised. New experimental models for studying trauma exposure and responses may contribute to a better understanding of risk factors and help to identify and protect individuals at risk

Abstract: Background Positive prospective mental imagery plays an important role in mental well-being, and depressive symptoms have been associated with difficulties in generating positive prospective mental images (PPMIs). We used a mobile app to gather PPMIs generated by young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed content, characteristics, and associations with depressive symptoms. Methods This is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial with 95 healthy young adults allocated into two groups (intervention and control). Participants used the mobile app decreasing mental health symptoms for seven consecutive days. Fifty participants in the intervention group reported PPMIs at least three times per day using a mobile app inducing PPMI generation. We categorized entries into themes and applied moderation models to investigate associations between PPMI characteristics and depressive symptoms. Results We distinguished 25 PPMI themes. The most frequent were related to consuming food and drinks, watching TV/streaming platforms, and doing sports. Vividness and ease of generation of PPMIs, but not their anticipation, pleasure intensity or number of engagements with the app were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Conclusions We identified PPMI themes in young adults and found significant negative associations between depressive symptoms and vividness and generation ease of PPMIs. These results may inform prevention and intervention science, including the design of personalized interventions. We discuss implications for future studies and treatment development for individuals experiencing diminished PPMI