Eric Vermetten - Böcker

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) arises from the experience of severe stressors and trauma. The disorder is characterized by recurrent recall of intrusive memories to the event, nightmares with insomnia, emotional numbing, hyperarousal, which are all long-lasting and relatively resistant to therapy. The focus of this book is on the question of how stress hormones are involved in PTSD. Recent evidence suggests that a dysregulation in stress hormones promotes the precipitation of PTSD and that correction of these hormones may ameliorate the disorder. This book combines state-of-the-art basic research on stress hormones from gene to behaviour with clinical research demonstrating the progress in understanding via imaging techniques, genetics, vulnerable phenotypes and co-morbidity with other disorders and physical illness.

There is now ample evidence from the preclinical and clinical fields that early life trauma has both dramatic and long-lasting effects on neurobiological systems and functions that are involved in different forms of psychopathology as well as on health in general. To date, a comprehensive review of the recent research on the effects of early and later life trauma is lacking. This book fills an obvious gap in academic and clinical literature by providing reviews which summarize and synthesize these findings. Topics considered and discussed include the possible biological and neuropsychological effects of trauma at different epochs and their effect on health. This book will be essential reading for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, mental health professionals, social workers, pediatricians and specialists in child development.

There are few clinical problems in the sleep medicine field that are more challenging than the sleep difficulties experienced by individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This book offers a unique, complete resource addressing all the basic concepts and clinical applications in sleep medicine in settings where combat-related PTSD is commonplace. Authored by leading international experts in the field of sleep/military medicine, Sleep and Combat-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is organized in six sections and provides a broad perspective of the field, from the established theories to the most recent developments in research, including the latest neuroscientific perspectives surrounding sleep and PTSD.  The result is a full assessment of sleep in relation to combat-related PTSD and a gold standard volume that is the first of its kind. This comprehensive title will be of great interest to a wide range of clinicians -- from academics and clinicians working within or in partnership with the military health care system to veteran hospital physicians and all health personnel who work with war veterans.

There are few clinical problems in the sleep medicine field that are more challenging than the sleep difficulties experienced by individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment offers an advanced introduction to this symptom, process, and pattern of personality organization seen in several trauma-related disorders, including acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the dissociative disorders. Our understanding of traumatic dissociation has recently been advanced by neuroimaging technology, empirically-based investigation, and an acknowledgment of its importance in psychopathology. The authors of this volume tie these findings together, tracking the condition from its earliest historical conceptualization to its most recent neurobiological understanding to provide even greater insight into traumatic dissociation and its treatment.Bringing together for the first time theoretical, cognitive, and neurobiological perspectives on traumatic dissociation, this volume is designed to provide both empirical and therapeutic insights by drawing on the work of many of the main contributors to the field. Opening chapters examine historical, conceptual, and theoretical issues and how other fields, such as cognitive psychology, have been applied to the study of traumatic dissociation. The following section focuses specifically on how neurobiological investigations have deepened our understanding of dissociation and concluding chapters explore issues pertinent to the assessment and treatment of traumatic dissociation. The interacting effects of traumatic experience, developmental history, neurobiological function, and specific vulnerabilities to dissociative processes that underlie the occurrence of traumatic dissociation are among some of the key issues covered. The book's significant contributions include ; A review of cognitive experimental findings on attention and memory functioning in dissociative identity disorder; An appreciation of how the literature on hypnosis provides a greater understanding of perceptual processing and traumatic stress; Ascertaining symptoms of dissociation in a military setting and in other situations of extreme stress; An outline of key issues for planning assessment of traumatic dissociation, including a critique of its primary empirically supported standardized measures; An examination of the association between child abuse or neglect and the development of eating disorders, suggesting ways to therapeutically deal with negative body experience to reduce events that trigger dissociation; A description of neuroendocrine alterations associated with stress, pointing toward a better understanding of the developmental effects of deprivation and trauma on PTSD and dissociation; A review of the relation of attachment and dissociation; A discussion of new research findings in the neuroimaging of dissociation and a link between cerebellar functioning and specific peritraumatic experiences Useful as a clinical reference or as ancillary textbook, Traumatic Dissociation reorganizes phenomenological observations that have been overlooked, misunderstood, or neglected in traditional training. The research and clinical experience described here will provide the basis for further clinical and theoretical formulations of traumatic dissociation and will advance empirical examination and treatment of the phenomenon.

This volume focuses on the behavioral neuroscience that supports our understanding of the neurobiology of trauma risk and response.  The collection of articles focuses on both preclinical and clinical reviews of (1) state-of-the-art knowledge of mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and co-occurring disorders, (2) the biological and psychological constructs that support risk and resiliency for trauma disorders, and (3), novel treatment strategies and therapeutics on the horizon.