Trauma, Bereavement and Grief -Ambiguous loss

Ambiguous loss is a person's profound sense of loss and sadness that may occur due to the disappearance of a significant person but is not associated with the death of a loved one. People may go missing in the context of natural disasters, displacement, armed conflicts, or forced disappearance. New translations are available for the ALI+.

Armed conflict

The Armed Conflict thematic group is currently exploring the available relevant information and guidelines on how we can support trauma survivors caught up in armed conflict; the position paper “Mental Health and

Psychosocial Support During Ongoing Armed Conflict” is underway.

A helpful paper and some materials that might be helpful in situations of ongoing conflict on the Armed conflict page.

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Sexual Violence Around the World: Prevalence and Mental Health Sequelae around the world

​For this study we aim to assess rates of sexual violence on college campuses across multiple countries around the world, their mental health impact, barriers in help seeking, and to additionally explore whether there are significant differences in these outcomes for persons with different gender identities or for LGBTQ+ student populations. We in particular invite 'non-Western' researchers to join.

If you are interested to join us in this project and would have access to students please contact Kayieigh Watters: kwatters@paloaltou.edu

FAIR Data - positive views on data sharing and re-use

The survey on international trauma researchers’ views and practices regarding data sharing and re-use (Prakash et al 2023) shows

- generally positive views on data sharing and re-use

- many participants had shared data at least once

- even more reported some degree of re-use of others’ data for new analyses. Check out the details: 

Student project: Paper in a Day at ISTSS Annual Meeting 

A successful Paper in a Day (PIAD) on Gender Differences in DSM-5 PTSD Symptom Clusters: A Network Analysis was held at ISTSS Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on November 1st and embodied global collaboration and FAIR data.

Early career researchers from Singapore, Norway, Ghana, and the United States and two supervisors from the Netherlands, Anke Witteveen & Mirjam van Zuiden, used data from the 2-ASAP study on early prevention of PTSD after trauma to examine gender impact of trauma exposure on differences in early post-trauma PTSD symptom network structures. 

Child maltreatment projects in full swing

IC-CROSS - Assessing intergenerational continuity of trauma and child maltreatment across cultures  

CM-SUP - Investigating the relationship between child maltreatment and difficulties in social updating across cultures

CM-SOM - Understanding the link between child maltreatment and somatic symptoms 

And there is more! Check out the updates and other project through the link below.

In particular non-Western partners are invited to join. 

FAIR data summit: a wealth of outcomes

With the support of the Trauma Data Institute, we convened a virtual summit in September 2023, bringing together more than 20 researchers who lead integrative data sharing and harmonization projects.  The summit generated a wealth of ideas for strengthening this work in the traumatic stress field.  A few highlighted outcomes:

• Video on the FAIR Data tools page on the GCTS website: Traumatic stress researchers share their experiences, challenges, and ideas for sharing and re-using data.

• Look out for a call for submissions in early 2024 for a special issue on FAIR Data in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.

   

Please let us know by e-mail if you are interested in joining our new FAIR Data email list for occasional updates on activities in this area.

Traumatic Stress and Adversity Faced by COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers and Mental Healthcare Providers

An international team of traumatic stress from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and the United States, led by Julian Ford, is conducting a survey study of mental health providers from multiple disciplines, beginning two years after the start of the pandemic. So far, more than 1000 mental health and social work professionals internationally have participated, and a second cohort is beginning in Africa, Australia, and Singapore.

Mental health providers: please access the survey here! 

Climate Change projects

We are proud to announce that the GCTS is now a formal member of the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) committed to understanding and addressing global environmental change and its health impacts.  We will collaborate on projects that directly or indirectly impact traumatic stress levels around the world. Check out our Climate change projects.

Awards

Congratulations to Dany Laure Wadji  for winning the second prize for a poster on GCTS project:

Child maltreatment through a cross-cultural lens

(CM-CCL)!

Awards

Our congratulations go to the most recent award winner whose registration fees were waived for the 2023 ISTSS Annual Meeting in Los Angeles:  

Andres Fresno Rodriguez of the University of Talca, Chile!

Members of GCTS (free of charge) are eligible to apply for a registration waiver of one of the partner conferences.  

The first conference of the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress!

The first conference of the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress will take place in Cape-town, South-Africa on 12-14 December 2023.

We have tried to keep registration fees as low as possible and hope to welcome many of you there! Check out the exciting preliminary program here.
 

Don't hesitate to join! 

Please apply for participation in projects as a collaborator or as a participant by following the links in the Project updates of relevant GCTS themes listed below.

We will be happy with your valuable input which can be in many forms: either by participating in research (e.g. data collection) or in collaborating on topics of global importance (e.g., in scientific writing)!

Register for free

ISTSS is preparing for the 40th annual conference

Recordings from the 2023 ISTSS Annual Meeting are now available for purchase. The 40th Annual Meeting of ISTSS will be held from September 25-28, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Abstract submissions will be open from January 9-February 13, 2024.

Please visit the ISTSS website for more information.

ACET

ACET's (Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático) next annual meeting will take place in 17-19 October 2024 in Santiago, Chile.

VIII International Conference of Psychological Trauma, “Trauma Treatment: from the psychoanalysis to psychedelics”

Check out ACET.

JSTSS

JSTSS (Japanese Society for Traumatic Stress Studies) has a new executive committee in August. The new president is Prof. Jun Shigemura.

The next annual meeting will take place from August 10-11, 2024 in Kyoto. The main theme is trauma-focused approaches.

More soon on JSTSS.

DeGPT’s annual meeting

The annual meeting of the DeGPT will take place from 21 to 23 February 2024 in Vienna, Austria. We will focus primarily on individualized approaches to psychotraumatology, find the full program online.

We invite researchers to apply for our grants and awards including a young scientist award.

Our summer school this year (25-28 September 2024) will take place in Tyrol, Austria, and applications are now possible.  

ESTSS

The Global Collaboration was well represented in ESTSS’ 17th Biennial Conference which took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 14 to 16 June this year.

Researchers from around the globe presented their findings in symposia, flashtalks and posters, with a special place for a GC-TS symposium on global research on the impact of childhood trauma across domains and the lifespan. Read more in the full conference report

All abstracts are published in the EJPT Abstract book.

The next conference will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia, June 2025:

KSTSS

The Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (KSTSS) hosted the 2023 KSTSS Annual Academic Conference and Educational Workshops with the theme "Korean Society and Collective Trauma: A Journey Towards Recovery and Healing" on November 24, 2023. The event included a variety of programs:

①"Is Our Society Safe from Trauma?" - A 100-Minute Panel Discussion, ②Invitation of Itaewon Tragedy Survivors, ③Keynote Lecture by Professor Chae Jeongho - "If We Are There by Your Pain".

An in-depth workshop was conducted by Park Seongdeok, an authority on relational trauma, focusing on understanding and recovering from attachment injuries.

Canadian Psychological Association Annual Convention - Save the date!

The 2024 Annual Convention will be in Ottawa, Ontario, from June 21 to June 23.

The Traumatic Stress Section committed to offer one or two registration fee waivers to researchers from low-to-middle-income countries again this year.

2024 Annual Symposium of the Canadian Consortium on Child and Youth Trauma

Early bird registration will open mid-November! The bilingual (French and English) event will take place in Montreal on May 1 and 2, 2024. This year Keynote speakers will include Dr. Cécile Rousseau, Dr. Michael Ungar, Dr. Monnica Williams, Dr. Chandra Ghosh Ippen and 12 presentations by members.