ISTSS 39th Annual Meeting Virtual Issue: Scalable Strategies to Address the Impact of Trauma Worldwide: Innovations and Implementation

Denise M. Sloan, Editor in Chief

This virtual issue is a collection of articles recently published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress that resonate with the ISTSS 39th Annual Meeting theme Scalable Strategies to Address the Impact of Trauma Worldwide: Innovations and Implementation.

Virtual Issue - War and Terrorism

Denise M. Sloan, Editor in Chief

We present this virtual special issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress in rapid response to the current conflict unfolding in Israel and the Gaza Strip. In this virtual special issue, we bring together previously published papers that highlight the devasting psychological and physical health effects of war and terrorism among the adults and children who are exposed to these traumatic stressors. Many of the papers focus on the impact of terrorism among Israelis and Arabs and demonstrate how the population in this region of the world have been subjected to chronic and severe stress for many years. One paper in this special issue describes the impact of exposure to these events on journalists who are performing their job duties while under threat of death or serious injury. Together, the findings described in these papers reminds us of the devastating effects of armed conflict among many of those who are exposed to it, but also of the human capacity for resilience in the face of extreme adversity.

Virtual Issue – Trauma among Refugees

The recent invasion of Ukraine and subsequent displacement of millions of Ukrainian citizens highlights an ongoing humanitarian crisis involving tens of millions of people around the world who have fled their home countries to find safety and a future. The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and its official, peer-reviewed publication the Journal of Traumatic Stress (JTS) have been informing the traumatic stress and PTSD field about the mental and physical health outcomes associated with being forcibly displaced due to conflict and persecution for many years. This is a topic that has received increased attention in the past few years. As is evident from the articles included in this special issue, displaced people across the globe face an array of serious and debilitating financial, political, educational, psychiatric and physical health challenges. In order to call attention to these ongoing injustices, JTS continues to welcome articles on this important and ever-present topic that affects the lives of millions of people around the world.  Read the new virtual issue from JTS on trauma among refugees here.

Journal of Traumatic Stress Virtual Special Issue on Complex PTSD: Classical and Cutting-Edge Perspectives

One of the most marked distinctions between the revised criteria for the PTSD diagnosis in the World Health Organization’s (2021) ICD-11 and the American Psychiatric Association’s (2013) DSM-5 is the presence versus absence of a distinct diagnostic category for Complex PTSD (CPTSD). Lively debates in the field led up to, accompanied, and have continued to follow from the resulting diverging views regarding our field’s conceptualization of the spectrum of posttraumatic stress reactions. Read the new virtual issue from JTS on Complex PTSD here.

This Virtual Special Issue (VSI) of JTS is designed not only to focus on the groundbreaking international research emerging on trauma during this global pandemic, but to be a living work in progress as that work proliferates and matures. This VSI will be continually updated as new manuscripts related to COVID-19 are published by the journal. As always, our publisher Wiley will set all such articles free for all to access in order to facilitate getting this crucial information into the hands of our readers and our community. Click here to read all the articles JTS has to offer on this topic.