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This study presents a new short scale for measuring cumulative trauma dose, types, and profiles that is based on the APA (American Psychological Association) trauma Group (currently division 56) definition of trauma and a new, two-way development-based taxonomy of trauma. The new measure was tested using a sample of 501 Iraqi refugees who are one of the most traumatized groups. The following six salient factors were found: collective identity, family, personal identity, interdependence or secondary, man-made or nature-made survival, and abandonment types of traumas. The study provided evidence of adequate reliability; construct, convergent, divergent and predictive validity of the new scale and provided partial confirmation of the validity of the development-based taxonomy of traumas. A new method was introduced to measure trauma types and profiles and their differential association with different symptom configurations and health disorders. The newly developed measure can be used in clinical trauma-informed settings and in research.

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The goal of this paper is to advance the theory of chronic and traumatic stressors that have been identified as type III traumas in the trauma developmentally-based framework (DBTF) and use it to investigate the mental and physical health effects of such traumas on impacted individuals and groups. Participants were 438 Palestinian adolescents from the West Bank who had been exposed to a number of types of trauma including chronic intergroup violence. The age of participants in the sample ranged from 12 to 19 with a mean of 15.66 and SD of 1.43. The sample included 54.6% males, 52.3% resided in cities, 44.4% resided in villages, while 3.2% resided in refugee camps. The study utilized a measure for cumulative traumas that is based on the DBTF and measures of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cumulative trauma related disorders (CTD), depression, anxiety, collective annihilation anxiety (AA), identity salience, and fear of death. The results of partial correlation and path analyses indicated that continuous traumatic stress was a significant predictor of mental health. The analyses also indicated that poverty predicted identity salience and AA that mediated their negative effects on physical and mental health of Palestinian adolescents. The relevance of these results to peace, social and clinical psychology was discussed.

This multi-institutional sleep study involved two phases aimed at investigating sleep alterations in patients with any stage of breast and lung cancer. The first phase of this study used an 82-item, 20-minute telephone survey to elicit information regarding the impact of sleep disturbances on a convenience sample of 150 patients. Of these patients, 44% reported a sleep problem during the month before the interview. Significant relations included these: report of sleep problems prediagnosis over the past month (x = 5.82; p = 0.02), duration of sleep medication use and frequency of sleep problem (r = 0.58; p = 0.05), age and severity of sleep problems (r = 0.38; p = 0.05), and frequency and severity of the sleep problem over the past month (r = 0.21; p < 0.10). Communication with health care providers occurred in 16.6% of patients reporting a sleep disturbance. The second phase of this study explored the type, frequency, and severity of sleep problems and perceptions of causation, support, and methods of coping with the sleep problem. A qualitative approach to the problem was used in this phase. A one-time telephone interview of 42 patients, derived from a convenience sample, revealed a 45% prevalence of sleep problems a month before the interview. A qualitative analysis of the responses suggested that sleep problems are related to experiences of other symptoms and perceptions of cancer and treatment. Content analysis of the responses identified the following categories: figuring out the reason, seeking help, seeking support and relation to the overall cancer experience.

Trauma developmental theory identifies gender discrimination (GD) as a type of persistent, ongoing trauma that has the potential for serious, negative effects on mental health. This study was conducted to examine the potential role of GD in the development of cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as the role of GD in mediating the effects of other traumas on these disorders. The sample included 160 female torture survivors from more than 30 countries. Measures of PTSD, CTD, and types of trauma exposure were acquired as part of a larger study on refugee torture survivors. Structural equation modeling was used to test several plausible models for the direct and indirect effects of GD on PTSD and CTD, within the context of other trauma exposure. Results suggest that GD mediates the effects of identity traumas on CTD and PTSD. GD also had direct effects on CTD, including relationships with dissociation, suicidality, and deficits in executive function. GD did not appear to directly influence the development of PTSD. The implications of these results for assessment and treatment of women's trauma-related disorders as well as strategies for their prevention are discussed.

The goal of the 2 studies discussed in this article was to explore how persons who have undergone torture and other general trauma differ from persons who have undergone only general trauma and to compare the effects of torture to other kinds of traumas. The studies were conducted in 2001 and 2003. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found that although tortured individuals have a significantly higher trauma dose, they are more resilient, are more socioculturally adjusted, have more posttraumatic growth, and practice their religion more. They are more tolerant of differences in religion, race, and culture, and feel more supported. However, they are less healthy physically than individuals in the community who were not tortured. We used theories of attribution, identity trauma, and cumulative trauma to understand the results. Recommendations for counseling and therapy are discussed.

We investigated the relationship between trauma type, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and intelligence quotient (IQ) utilizing a development-based taxonomy of trauma in a sample of 390 African-American adolescents and Iraqi refugee adolescents. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we compared different "good-fitting" models that describe the specific relationships between different trauma types, PTSD cluster symptoms (i.e., re-experiencing, arousal, avoidance, and emotional numbness/dissociation), and IQ factors (i.e., perceptual reasoning, verbal comprehension, working memory, and processing speed). Our findings support the hypothesis that different trauma types have different influences, some positive and some negative. Whereas abandonment and personal identity trauma (e.g., sexual abuse) have direct negative effects, secondary trauma (e.g., parents' involvement in war or combat) has a positive effect on IQ. Collective identity trauma (e.g., oppression) did not have either negative or positive effects on IQ. The PTSD components reexperiencing and arousal generally mediated some of the negative effects of traumas on IQ; avoidance and emotional detachment/dissociation generally mediated positive effects. In conclusion, trauma type differentially impacts IQ. However, cumulative trauma dynamics have total negative significant effects on all of the four IQ components: perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and verbal comprehension.