A while ago, I went to a concert at the University of Connecticut. An orchestra from Germany was playing the music of Beethoven, but I came away with an appreciation of . . . . . . Jimi Hendrix? It might sound rather unlikely, but stay with me here. Because as it turns out, even […]
Our Hearts Go Out to Sandy Hook Elementary
How can this keep happening? That was my immediate thought upon hearing the tragic news of this latest school shooting that took place yesterday in my home state of Connecticut. The unthinkable has happened again, this time at an elementary school – 26 dead, 18 of them children, at the time of this writing. The […]
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Female Rape Victims
PTSD can occur when someone experiences a single traumatic event. But what happens when a person is exposed to a traumatic environment over a long period of time? Healing from PTSD is challenging enough, but a person with a history of trauma who is re-traumatized is often likely to develop what’s called complex PTSD. Patricia […]
Women in Abusive Relationships: Their Telomeres Tell the Story
We know that trauma has a significant psychological impact, but it has long-term biological consequences as well. In the past we’ve talked about how trauma affects the body, such as increasing chances for irritable bowel syndrome. This is another case that exemplifies this effect, but this time, using telomeres. As we’ve mentioned before, telomeres are […]
Trauma and Resilience: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger?
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Although most of us have probably heard this euphemism before, a recent study looked at traumatic life experiences to see how true this saying really was. Published in the Current Directions in Psychological Science, Mark D. Seery, PhD and his colleagues from the University of Buffalo, delved […]