The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is internationally accepted as a key tool for the assessment of childhood abuse and neglect experiences. However, there are relative few psychometric studies available and some authors have proposed two different factor solutions. We examined the dimensional structure and internal consistency of the Brazilian version of the CTQ. A total of 1,925 participants from eight different clinical and non-clinical samples including adolescents, adults and elders were considered in this study. First, we performed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to investigate the goodness of fit of the two proposed competitive factor structure models for the CTQ. We also investigated the internal consistency of all factors. Second, multi-group analyses were used to investigate measurement invariance and population heterogeneity across age groups and sex. Our findings revealed that the alternative factor structure as opposed to the original factor structure was the most appropriate model within adolescents and adults Brazilian samples. We provide further evidence for the validity and reliability of the CTQ within the Brazilian samples and report that the alternative model showed an improvement in fit indexes and may be a better alternative over the original model.

This systematic review sought to assess the impact of child maltreatment on cognitive functioning. Seventeen papers from Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and Amed (1995-2011) databases were analyzed based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. The studies have shown that maltreatment during childhood has deleterious effects on cognitive functioning. Overall, adults or children/teenagers exposed to abuse during childhood performed poorly on tasks meant to assess verbal episodic memory, working memory, attention, and executive functions. We conclude that child maltreatment is a risk factor for short and long-term development due to potential adverse effects on cognitive functioning. ResumoEste estudo buscou investigar os efeitos da exposição a maus-tratos sobre o funcionamento cognitivo através do método de revisão sistemática da literatura. Pelos bancos de dados Medline, PsycINFO, Embase e Amed (1995-2011), a partir de critérios de inclusão/exclusão, foram recuperados e analisados 17 trabalhos.Os estudos mostraram que há um efeito deletério de experiências de maus-tratos na infância no funcionamento cognitivo. De maneira geral, adultos ou crianças/adolescentes que sofreram maus-tratos na infância demonstraram um perfi l cognitivo inferior em tarefas que examinaram memória verbal episódica, memória de trabalho, atenção e componentes das funções executivas. Conclui-se que maus-tratos sofridos na infância constituem fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento, tanto a curto quanto a longo-prazo, pois podem acarretar prejuízos cognitivos. Palavras-chave: Maus tratos, funcionamento cognitivo, memória, funções executivas.

Esta revisão teórica busca analisar os aspectos vinculados ao estresse ocupacional e à síndrome de burnout, bem como relacioná-los com a prática profissional dos psicólogos. Essas síndromes podem afetar o psicólogo pois, nas suas relações de trabalho, ele se encontra muito próximo de pessoas em sofrimento, podendo identificar-se e vincular-se afetivamente às mesmas. São discutidos aspectos conceituais e causais das síndromes, das relações de trabalho em saúde mental e, especificamente, do exercício profissional em Psicologia, considerando a realidade do Brasil e de outros países.
The aspects linked to occupational stress and burnout syndrome, as well as their relation to the psychologists professional practice are this article scope. The main reason why these syndromes affect the psychology professional is linked to its work relations, that are very close to the contact with suffering people, as well as a sort of identification and affection that can be established between patient and caregiver. Conceptual aspects and causes of these syndromes are discussed, and also the job relations in mental health workers and psychologists, considering Brazil and other countries’ realities

BackgroundAlthough there is some evidence of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) construct's cross cultural validity, trauma-related disorders may vary across cultures, and the same may be true for treatments that address such conditions. Experienced therapists tailor psychotherapy to each patient's particular situation, to the nature of the patient's psychopathology, to the stage of therapy, and so on. In addition, culture-sensitive psychotherapists try to understand how culture enhances the meaning of their patient's life history, the cultural components of their illness and help-seeking behaviors, as well as their expectations with regard to treatment. We cannot take for granted that all treatment-seeking trauma survivors speak our language or share our cultural values. Therefore, we need to increase our cultural competencies.MethodsThe authors of this article are clinicians and/or researchers from across the globe, working with trauma survivors in various settings. Each author focused on one or more specific cultural aspects of working with trauma survivors and highlighted the following aspects.ResultsAs a result of culture-specific individual and collective meanings linked to trauma and trauma-related disorders survivors may be exposed to (self-)stigma in the aftermath of trauma. Patients who are reluctant to talk about their traumatic experiences may instead be willing to write or use other ways of accessing the painful memories such as drawing. In other cultures, community and family cohesion are crucial elements of recovery. While awareness of culture-specific aspects is important, we also need to beware of premature cultural stereotyping. When disseminating empirically supported psychotherapies for PTSD across cultures, a number of additional challenges need to be taken into account: many low and middle income countries have very limited resources available and suffer from a poor health infrastructure.ConclusionsIn summary, culture-sensitive psychotraumatology means assuming an empathic and non-judgmental attitude, trying to understand each individual's cultural background.Highlights of the articleCultural sensitivity is required to successfully treat trauma survivors.Empirically supported treatments may need to be modified depending on the patient’s cultural background.In addition to talking, patients may write or use other ways of accessing the traumatic memories such as painting, dancing, or singing.In low and middle income countries, dissemination of evidence-based treatments is frequently impeded by limited resources and poor health infrastructure.Beware of cultural stereotyping!

Background The latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD‐11) proposes a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms within the symptom clusters re‐experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal. Since children and adolescents often show a variety of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the aftermath of traumatic events, the question arises whether such a conceptualization of the PTSD diagnosis is supported in children and adolescents. Furthermore, although dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) appear to play an important role in the development and persistence of PTSD in children and adolescents, their function within diagnostic frameworks requires clarification. Methods We compiled a large international data set of 2,313 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years exposed to trauma and calculated a network model including dysfunctional PTCs, PTSD core symptoms and depression symptoms. Central items and relations between constructs were investigated. Results The PTSD re‐experiencing symptoms strong or overwhelming emotions and strong physical sensations and the depression symptom difficulty concentrating emerged as most central. Items from the same construct were more strongly connected with each other than with items from the other constructs. Dysfunctional PTCs were not more strongly connected to core PTSD symptoms than to depression symptoms. Conclusions Our findings provide support that a PTSD diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms could help to disentangle PTSD, depression and dysfunctional PTCs. Using longitudinal data and complementing between‐subject with within‐subject analyses might provide further insight into the relationship between dysfunctional PTCs, PTSD and depression.