Some Good News

[Kizzie]

I belong to ISTSS* and the theme of the convention this year in Nov is "Scalable Strategies to Address the Impact of Trauma Worldwide: Innovations and Implementation" - https://istss.org/am23/home?_zs=fkcmg1&_zl=pBuA9

The ISTSS 39th Annual Meeting will focus on innovative strategies can be used (and scaled up) to address the impact of traumatic stress on mental and physical health. In pursuit of this goal, we seek presentations examining scalable strategies and technological innovations for studying and treating PTSD. Furthermore, we seek presentations that cut across traditional diagnostic categories and adopt dimensional and multiple-levels-of-analysis approaches to understanding trauma-related psychopathology. Additionally, we are interested in research that addresses multimorbidity in the context of trauma. We welcome presentations that speak to the comorbidity of psychological conditions after trauma, as well as to the interplay of mental and physical health after traumatic events.

Hurrah!  My only complaint and it's big is they are still focused on PTSD, but they do tend to lump in Complex Trauma under PTSD (it's an international org but run mostly by Americans and since CPTSD is in the APA DSM under PTSD they are still sticking to it ). Hopefully they will have presenters on CT.

I actually just emailed the new CO-Chairs about this - as in why is this the case and what if anything should we be doing to get CT/CPTSD out there within the org?

*International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

[NarcKiddo]

Well done for getting on their case.

[Bermuda]

Oh wow, I so wish I could attend! If this were five years ago, I would be on my way. Wouldn't it be great if as we discussed recently how we relate to eachother's experiences almost to a tee, if we had statistics on our group? It looks like they are not looking for experiences or anectodal evidence, which is a bit of a shame because the secret to solving trauma is first and foremost prevention , but we are also a great resource for statistical analysis.

It's interesting to hear people wanting to listen to data about comorbidities and how trauma affects our health, but I think experience and anecdotes are super helpful with that. It's not all medical, sometimes it's lifestyle factors related to mental health and trauma that need to be addressed first, it's societal and governmental. I would love to give that presentation from a sociological perspective. The discussion needs to be broad because the struggles are broad and often rooted in very real issues.

You know, at one point I thought I was depressed. It turns out my life was a difficult trench to dig my way out of in the middle of a storm. It was just miserable. I have a lot of comordibities, but most are more indirectly related to trauma than directly. I feel like a tattered cloth.

I have lots of suggestions for innovation.

[Kizzie]

I would love to gather data from this site. I'm hoping if the book generates any revenue I can purchase a survey app like Survey Monkey. Nothing like data to make the case with those who need statistics versus anecdotal evidence.