<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Stigma towards alcohol-related conditions is more pronounced than stigma against any other mental illness and has remained high throughout past decades. Although alcohol consumption is a known and persistent contributor to the burden of disease and interpersonal threat and may thus shape public attitudes towards consumption, no study to date has provided an overview of the prevalence of alcohol stigma and its association with (a) alcohol consumption and (b) harm attributable to alcohol across Europe. As a social reaction to thresholds of accepted use of alcohol, stigma could impact consumption, resulting in a reduced quantity or at least less harmful drinking patterns. This contribution provides an initial overview by addressing the following research questions. (i) What are the country-level prevalence rates of alcohol stigma compared across European countries? (ii) Is alcohol stigma associated with (a) alcohol consumption and (b) alcohol-attributable harm? (iii) Is there an association between alcohol stigma and alcohol consumption by type of beverage? <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We combined data on country-level desire for social distance towards “heavy drinkers” (European Values Survey, operationalization of “alcohol stigma”) with indicators of alcohol consumption, including adult per capita consumption (APC), heavy episodic drinking, consumption by type of beverage (wine, beer, spirits), and harm attributable to alcohol, namely age-standardized disability-adjusted life years lost to alcohol consumption (AADALYs) for 28 countries. Linear regression models were applied<i>.</i> <b><i>Results:</i></b> (i) Social distance varied noticeably across countries (M = 62.9%, SD = 16.3%) in a range of 28.3% and 87.3%. (ii) APC was significantly positive related to social distance (β = 0.55, <i>p</i> = 0.004). (iii) Wine consumption was significantly negative related to social distance; the opposite was true for spirits consumption. No association was found for beer consumption<i>.</i> The best model fit was achieved with APC (β = 0.48, <i>p</i> = 0.002) and wine per capita consumption (β = −0.55, <i>p</i> < 0.001) explaining 57.0% (adjusted <i>R</i><sup>2</sup>) of the variance in social distance. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Our study shows a strong relationship between country-level alcohol stigma and alcohol consumption. If stigma was to deter people from harmful alcohol consumption, it would be expected that higher levels of alcohol stigma are associated with lower levels of overall alcohol consumption or consumption of spirits in particular. Instead, stigma seems to be a reaction to harmful drinking patterns without changing these patterns for the better.
Background
Traumatic events are strongly associated with mental health problems. At present, traumatic events and trauma-specific needs are commonly underdetected in therapeutic settings. Many mental health professionals lack key competencies for trauma inquiry and treatment.
Objective
In this study, we aimed to investigate the everyday practices of dealing with traumatic events in outpatient psychotherapy in Germany as well as the influence of the therapist’s gender, own traumatic events, length of professional experience, and theoretical orientation.
Method
A total of 148 outpatient psychotherapists completed a purpose-designed online questionnaire. Therapists rated barriers and attitudes towards trauma assessment, possible requirements for enquiring about trauma, and practical aspects of trauma assessment.
Results
Barriers reported in previous studies, e.g. fear of offending the patient or exacerbating their psychological state, could not be confirmed in our sample. Overall, participating therapists felt confident in engaging with traumatic events and considered enquiring about trauma important in all patients. Group differences were found for therapist’s gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that trauma training lowers barriers and raises therapists’ self-confidence in dealing with patients´ traumatic experiences. Therapists’ characteristics effecting trauma assessment should be considered during training. Due to the increasing demand for psychotherapy, especially considering people with severe mental illness affected by traumatic events, trauma training should be obligatory for all mental health professionals.
Zusammenfassung
Ziel der Studie Untersuchung der Unterschiede im Umgang mit traumatischen Erfahrungen von Patient*innen zwischen Psychotherapeut*innen mit und ohne traumatherapeutischer Weiterbildung (tWB) beziehungsweise Teilqualifikation.
Methodik Onlinebefragung von ambulanten Psychotherapeut*innen (N = 148) zu möglichen Hindernissen in der Thematisierung traumatischer Erfahrungen von Patient*innen sowie dem selbstberichteten berufspraktischen Handeln.
Ergebnisse Das Vorliegen einer tWB ist assoziiert mit einem höheren Kompetenzerleben im berufspraktischen Handeln und weniger Hindernisse in der Thematisierung traumatischer Erfahrungen.
Schlussfolgerung Ein geringeres Kompetenzerleben von Psychotherapeut*innen ohne tWB spricht für den Bedarf obligatorischer Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen. Der Ausbau von niederschwelligen Behandlungsangeboten für Betroffene von traumatischen Erfahrungen und der Abbau von Zugangsbarrieren sind dringend notwendig.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.