Try a new search

Format these results:

Searched for:

in-biosketch:yes

person:browna23

Total Results:

65


Psychosocial interventions for child traumatic stress

Chapter by: Saxe, Glenn N; Gartner, Hannah; Brown, Adam D
in: (2018) by Stoddard, Frederick J Jr
xvi, 390 pp, 2018
pp. Trauma- and stressor
ISBN: 978-0-19-045713-6
CID: 3760132

Bad manners in the Emergency Department: Incivility among doctors

Klingberg, Karsten; Gadelhak, Khaled; Jegerlehner, Sabrina N; Brown, Adam D; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Srivastava, David S
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Negative workplace behaviour, especially negative communication is a recognised problem in many organisations and is known to have serious impact on workplace performance, productivity and personal wellbeing. Emergency Departments (ED) can be high stress environments in which communication and perceptions of respect between physicians and other staff may underlie individual functioning. We conducted a study to estimate the influence of incivility (ICV) among physicians in the ED. METHODS:We developed an online survey to assess workplace incivility in the ED. We focussed on frequency, origin, reasons and situations where ICV was reported. To measure the levels and the potential influence of ICV on psychological safety, social stress and personal wellbeing we correlated our questionnaire to standard psychological scales. Statistical analysis included Students t-test, chi squared distribution and Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS:We invited all seventy-seven ED physicians to participate in our survey. Among those that completed (n = 50, 65%) the survey, 9% of ED physicians reported frequent (1/week) and 38% occasional (1/month) incidents of ICV. 28% of physicians reported experiencing ICV once per quarter and 21% reported a frequency of only once per year, no physician reported ICV on a daily basis. Levels of ICV were significantly higher in interactions with specialists from outside then within the ED (p<0.01). ICV was perceived particularly during critical situations. Our findings showed a significant correlation between internal (within the ED team) ICV and psychological safety. To ED physicians internal ICV was associated with lower levels of psychological safety (p<0.01). ICV displayed from sources outside the ED team was not associated with psychological safety, but we found a significant influence of external ICV on personal irritability and reduced wellbeing (p<0.01). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS:The incidence of incivility was high among the ED physicians. Although this was a small sample, the association between workplace ICV and psychological safety, personal irritation as well personal comfort suggests that ICV may be an important variable underlying ED team performance. These findings further underscore the need to foster a culture of respect and good communication between departments, as levels of ICV were highest with physicians from outside the ED. Future research would benefit from examining strategies to prevent and reduce ICV and identify reasons for personal variation in perception of ICV. During critical situations and in general collaboration with specialists, awareness of ICV and countermeasures are important to avoid decreased performance and negative impact on staff and patient.
PMCID:5875803
PMID: 29596513
ISSN: 1932-6203
CID: 3010992

Memory Specificity Training for Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Promising Therapeutic Intervention

Erten, Mina N; Brown, Adam D
PMCID:5892288
PMID: 29666598
ISSN: 1664-1078
CID: 3039612

Editorial: Post-traumatic Stress in the Family [Editorial]

Horesh, Danny; Brown, Adam D
PMCID:5808160
PMID: 29467688
ISSN: 1664-1078
CID: 2979292

Examining temporal alterations in Social Anxiety Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The relation between autobiographical memory, future goals, and current self-views

Krans, Julie; Peeters, Manon; Naring, Gerard; Brown, Adam D; de Bree, June; van Minnen, Agnes
The self is a multi-faceted and temporally dynamic construct reflecting representations and beliefs about identity in the past, present, and future. Clinical studies have shown that individuals with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) exhibit alterations in self-related processing but these studies have focused primarily on memory. Few studies in PTSD and SAD have examined self-related processing for the present and future, and no studies have directly compared these processes across these two disorders. Individuals diagnosed with PTSD (n=21), SAD (n=21), and healthy controls (n=21) completed cognitive tasks related to the past, present, and future. Disorder congruent temporal alterations were found across both disorders. Further, regression analyses revealed that trauma-related memories were significantly predicted by future goals related to the trauma, whereas social anxiety-related recall was predicted by current socially anxious self-views. Thus, although self-related processing may be common in PTSD and SAD, those aspects of the self most strongly associated with disorder-congruent recall differ by disorder. Self-alterations may be modifiable and developing a better understanding of past, present, and future self-processing might aid in the development of interventions that target these process.
PMID: 29031160
ISSN: 1873-7897
CID: 2743262

Coping flexibility predicts post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in human rights advocates

Rodin, Rebecca; Bonanno, George A; Knuckey, Sarah; Satterthwaite, Margaret L; Hart, Roland; Joscelyne, Amy; Bryant, Richard A; Brown, Adam D
An emerging body of research on individuals exposed to trauma shows that the ability to flexibly employ different coping styles is associated with better adjustment. Specifically, individuals who use both "trauma-focused" (focusing on the experience and significance of a potentially traumatic event) and "forward-focused" (optimism, helping others, goal-oriented thinking) coping styles exhibit less psychological disturbance after trauma exposure than those with less coping flexibility. We investigated whether greater coping flexibility is associated with less Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in an international sample of human rights advocates. In an online, cross-sectional study, 346 international human rights advocates completed self-reported measures of PTSD, MDD, trauma exposure, and the Perceived Ability to Cope with Trauma (PACT) scale. Results showed that coping flexibility was associated with lower rates and symptom severity of PTSD and MDD. Whereas both trauma-focused and forward-focused coping were associated with lower rates of PTSD, the inverse relationship between coping flexibility and MDD was driven primarily by less forward-focused coping. These findings are the first to show that lower levels of coping flexibility may be an important factor underlying vulnerability to PTSD and MDD among human rights advocates. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether coping flexibility can mitigate the potential negative mental health impact of traumatic stress over the course of one's career in international human rights advocacy.
PSYCH:2017-55767-007
ISSN: 1557-9328
CID: 3114732

Expressive flexibility in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression

Rodin, Rebecca; Bonanno, George A; Rahman, Nadia; Kouri, Nicole A; Bryant, Richard A; Marmar, Charles R; Brown, Adam D
BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that the ability to flexibly express and suppress emotions ("expressive flexibility") supports successful adaptation to trauma and loss. However, studies have yet to examine whether individuals that meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression exhibit alterations in expressive flexibility. The present study aims to test whether lower levels of expressive flexibility are associated with PTSD and depression in combat-exposed veterans. METHODS: Fifty-nine combat veterans with and without PTSD completed self-report measures assessing symptoms of depression, PTSD, and combat exposure. Participants also completed an expressive flexibility task in which they were asked to either enhance or suppress their expressions of emotion while viewing affective images on a computer screen. Expressive flexibility was assessed by both expressive enhancement ability and expressive suppression ability. RESULTS: Repeated measures ANOVA's showed that both PTSD and depression were associated with lower levels of emotional enhancement ability. In addition, a series of linear regressions demonstrated that lower levels of emotional enhancement ability were associated with greater symptom severity of PTSD and depression. The ability to suppress emotional responses did not differ among individuals with and without PTSD or depression. LIMITATIONS: of the study include a cross-sectional design, precluding causality; the lack of a non-trauma exposed group and predominantly male participants limit the generalizability to other populations. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in expressive flexibility is a previously unrecognized affective mechanism associated with PTSD and depression. Clinical strategies aimed at enhancing emotional expression may aid in the treatment of these disorders.
PMID: 27728871
ISSN: 1573-2517
CID: 2278332

Enhancing self-efficacy improves episodic future thinking and social-decision making in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

Brown, Adam D; Kouri, Nicole A; Rahman, Nadia; Joscelyne, Amy; Bryant, Richard A; Marmar, Charles R
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is associated with maladaptive changes in self-identity, including impoverished perceived self-efficacy. This study examined if enhancing perceptions of self-efficacy in combat veterans with and without symptoms of PTSD promotes cognitive strategies associated with positive mental health outcomes. Prior to completing a future thinking and social problem-solving task, sixty-two OEF/OIF veterans with and without symptoms of PTSD were randomized to either a high self-efficacy (HSE) induction in which they were asked to recall three autobiographical memories demonstrating self-efficacy or a control condition in which they recalled any three autobiographical events. An interaction between HSE and PTSD revealed that individuals with symptoms of PTSD in the HSE condition generated future events with more self-efficacious statements than those with PTSD in the control condition, whereas those without PTSD did not differ in self-efficacy content across the conditions. In addition, individuals in the HSE condition exhibited better social problem solving than those in the control condition. Increasing perceptions of self-efficacy may promote future thinking and problem solving in ways that are relevant to overcoming trauma and adversity.
PMID: 27236589
ISSN: 1872-7123
CID: 2125022

Contextualizing traumatic memories: The role of self-identity in the construction of autobiographical memory in posttraumatic stress disorder

Chapter by: Brown, Adam D; Kouri, Nicole A; Superka, Julia E
in: Contextualizing human memory: An interdisciplinary approach to understanding how individuals and groups remember the past by Stone, Charles; Bietti, Lucas [Eds]
New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2016
pp. 11-22
ISBN: 978-0-415-74122-4
CID: 2068372

Mental Health Functioning in the Human Rights Field: Findings from an International Internet-Based Survey

Joscelyne, Amy; Knuckey, Sarah; Satterthwaite, Margaret L; Bryant, Richard A; Li, Meng; Qian, Meng; Brown, Adam D
Human rights advocates play a critical role in promoting respect for human rights world-wide, and engage in a broad range of strategies, including documentation of rights violations, monitoring, press work and report-writing, advocacy, and litigation. However, little is known about the impact of human rights work on the mental health of human rights advocates. This study examined the mental health profile of human rights advocates and risk factors associated with their psychological functioning. 346 individuals currently or previously working in the field of human rights completed an internet-based survey regarding trauma exposure, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resilience and occupational burnout. PTSD was measured with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and depression was measured with the Patient History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). These findings revealed that among human rights advocates that completed the survey, 19.4% met criteria for PTSD, 18.8% met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, and 14.7% met criteria for depression. Multiple linear regressions revealed that after controlling for symptoms of depression, PTSD symptom severity was predicted by human rights-related trauma exposure, perfectionism and negative self-appraisals about human rights work. In addition, after controlling for symptoms of PTSD, depressive symptoms were predicted by perfectionism and lower levels of self-efficacy. Survey responses also suggested high levels of resilience: 43% of responders reported minimal symptoms of PTSD. Although survey responses suggest that many human rights workers are resilient, they also suggest that human rights work is associated with elevated rates of PTSD and depression. The field of human rights would benefit from further empirical research, as well as additional education and training programs in the workplace about enhancing resilience in the context of human rights work.
PMCID:4689393
PMID: 26700305
ISSN: 1932-6203
CID: 1884272