Neurobiology of PTSD outlines the basic neural mechanisms that mediate complex responses and adaptations to psychological trauma; describes how these biological processes are impaired in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); and discusses how the environmental exposure to trauma interacts with the brain to create the syndrome of PTSD.

Born out of the excitement of a convergence of ideas and passions, this book provides a synthesis of the work of researchers, clinicians, and theoreticians who are leaders in the field of trauma, attachment, and psychotherapy. As we move into the third millennium, the field of mental health is in an exciting position to bring together diverse ideas from a range of disciplines that illuminate our understanding of human experience: neurobiology, developmental psychology, traumatology, and systems theory. The contributors emphasize the ways in which the social environment, including relationships of childhood, adulthood, and the treatment milieu change aspects of the structure of the brain and ultimately alter the mind.

Originally published by Viking Penguin, 2014.

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"This casebook offers detailed guidance to help practitioners understand and implement the treatments recommended in the American Psychological Association's Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Adults. The authors describe the unique factors involved in PTSD treatment, and core competencies necessary for providers. Chapters then explain each treatment described in the guideline, summarize the empirical evidence for their effectiveness, and offer rich, detailed case examples that demonstrate how readers can use these interventions with real clients. Treatments described include cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive processing therapy, cognitive therapy and prolonged exposure, brief eclectic psychotherapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and narrative exposure therapy. Medications including fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, and venlafaxine are discussed as well. Intended for use with the Guideline, this book combines the best available research with expert clinical recommendations, to help readers make the clinical decisions that are best for their patients"--

Explore interventions and treatment methods designed to help curb the alarming trend toward violence in today's youth! Written in jargon-free lucid prose, Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children specifically shows how positive early experiences enhance brain development and how traumatic life experiences, especially child abuse and neglect, can affect a child's brain and behavior. Through carefully selected case studies, the book offers basic principles of treatment and a broad range of interventions that target the multiple symptoms and problems seen in children with a history of childhood trauma. Offering a new psychobiological model of child development, this book incorporates the influence of both genes and the environment and conceptualizes normal and pathological development in terms of common underlying processes. For readers concerned with promoting healthy development in children and helping children recover from childhood trauma, this engagingly written book describes exactly how a child's social/interpersonal environment can positively or negatively influence brain development. Throughout the book, the authors highlight the interrelationship between neurobiology and psychology. They present basic information about brain development and organization, describe exactly what is going on inside the brain at each stage of development, and illustrate these concepts through a detailed case study of a preschooler with severe problems in communicating and relating. They discuss the pernicious effects that traumatic stress has on brain and behavior, differentiating between simple and complex PTSD, and review the specific brain impairments currently attributed to a childhood history of maltreatment. Using their unique psychobiological perspective and illustrative case studies, the authors evaluate the principles and strategies of treatment, showing how relationships and experiences can mitigate the effects childhood trauma. After fleshing out the shocking cost to society of child maltreatment, the authors offer broad policy prescriptions that promote healthy development, including basic strategies for prevention and early intervention. Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children will show you: how interpersonal experience shapes brain development what is going on in the brain during the critical first six years how therapeutic relationships and interpersonal experience can promote emotional and cognitive development how childhood maltreatment can damage the brain and impair the developing mind what types of experiences and therapeutic strategies can mitigate the effects of childhood trauma what policy prescriptions, programs, and early intervention strategies can be implemented to promote healthy development

This book presents a decade of advances in the psychological, biological and social responses to disasters, helping medics and leaders prepare and react.