[Toward Cultural Scripts of Trauma Sequelae]. / Auf dem Weg zu kulturellen Skripten von Traumafolgen.

BACKGROUND: The concept of cultural scripts has proven to be very useful for describing depression-like psychological complaints in different cultural regions of the world. The article presents the galaxy model and its implementation in the model of cultural scripts theoretically for the first time and connects these with cultural psychological value research. A new, extensive series of research projects aims to investigate post-trauma -related psychological complaints in various regions of the world. METHODS: The work in two countries/regions began with focus groups in which elements of cultural scripts were collected by traumatized clients and/or by (therapeutic) experts. For this purpose, a theory-based framework of possible post-traumatic script elements was provided. In Switzerland, focus groups were conducted with patients and experts. Focus groups were conducted with genocide survivors and other trauma victims in Rwanda and three East African countries. The evaluation was semi-quantitative. RESULTS: In Switzerland, around 50 symptoms and changes were mentioned as script elements (e. g. still having to function). Approximately 100 symptoms and changes were mentioned as script elements in East Africa (e. g. loss of dignity). The first temporal connections (i. e. strong scripts) were found for the Swiss scripts (e. g. self-devaluation - urge to function). In the East African study, cultural value orientations underlying the script groupings were also assessed (e. g. community reputation). DISCUSSION: The illustrative results presented here demonstrate the galaxy model and the suitability of the cultural script concept for recording the effects of trauma. There are differences and similarities in the two world regions examined so far. Further steps at the two study sites will be the temporal connections and the relationships to value orientations. The studies will be started at the other study sites in the following years.

[Evidence-based psychotherapy of posttraumatic stress syndrome-An update]. / Evidenzbasierte Psychotherapie posttraumatischer Belastungsstörungen ­ ein Update.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this article is to summarize the current state of research on the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: The results of current meta-analyses and trend-setting individual studies are summarized and the most important forms of intervention are explained. RESULTS: The psychotherapeutic treatment methods for PTSD are very effective, the effect sizes are large and superior to those of pharmacotherapy. Trauma exposure and cognitive restructuring are most effective. Trauma-focused procedures are generally superior to other forms of psychotherapy. A range of different cognitive behavioral procedures as well as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing are recommended. The most recent initial findings confirm a very good effectiveness for imagery rescripting methods as protective interventions without a formal confrontation with trauma. Individual therapy works better than group psychotherapy. In the group setting cognitive processing therapy has proven to be the best intervention. Trauma-focused treatment should also be used when comorbid conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or addiction are present. DISCUSSION: Trauma-focused psychotherapy in an individual setting is the treatment of choice for PTSD. A large selection of effective methods and well-reviewed manuals are available. The German language S3 guidelines are currently being updated.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) is a severe mental disorder that emerges in response to traumatic life events. Complex PTSD is characterised by three core post-traumatic symptom clusters, along with chronic and pervasive disturbances in emotion regulation, identity, and relationships. Complex PTSD has been adopted as a new diagnosis in the ICD-11. Individuals with complex PTSD typically have sustained or multiple exposures to trauma, such as childhood abuse and domestic or community violence. The disorder has a 1-8% population prevalence and up to 50% prevalence in mental health facilities. Progress in diagnostics, assessment, and differentiation from post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder is reported, along with assessment and treatment of children and adolescents. Studies recommend multicomponent therapies starting with a focus on safety, psychoeducation, and patient-provider collaboration, and treatment components that include self-regulatory strategies and trauma-focused interventions.

Social Functioning in Individuals Affected by Childhood Maltreatment: Establishing a Research Agenda to Inform Interventions.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is linked to impairments in various domains of social functioning. Here, we argue that it is critical to identify factors that underlie impaired social functioning as well as processes that mediate the beneficial health effects of positive relationships in individuals exposed to CM. Key research recommendations are presented, focusing on: (1) identifying attachment-related alterations in specific inter- and intrapersonal processes (e.g., regulation of closeness and distance) that underlie problems in broader domains of social functioning (e.g., lack of perceived social support) in individuals affected by CM; (2) identifying internal (e.g., current emotional state) and external situational factors (e.g., cultural factors, presence of close others) that modulate alterations in specific social processes; and (3) identifying mechanisms that explain the positive health effects of intact social functioning. Methodological recommendations include: (1) assessing social processes through interactive and (close to) real-life assessments inside and outside the laboratory; (2) adopting an interdisciplinary, lifespan perspective to assess social processes, using multi-method assessments; (3) establishing global research collaborations to account for cultural influences on social processes and enable replications across laboratories and countries. The proposed line of research will contribute to globally develop and refine interventions that prevent CM and further positive relationships, which - likely through buffering the effects of chronic stress and corresponding allostatic load - foster resilience and improve mental and physical health, thereby reducing personal suffering and the societal and economic costs of CM and its consequences. Interventions targeting euthymia and psychological well-being are promising therapeutic concepts in this context.

Validation of the International Adjustment Disorder Questionnaire in Israel and Switzerland.

The ICD-11 has introduced a new conceptualization of adjustment disorder (AjD) as a stress response syndrome with core symptoms of preoccupations and failure to adapt to the stressor. The current study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the International Adjustment Disorder Questionnaire (IADQ) in two culturally distinct samples from Israel and Switzerland. Two samples were recruited in Israel (N = 1142) and Switzerland (N = 699) during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a correlated two-factor model provided an excellent fit to the Israeli and Swiss sample data. The IADQ scores correlated strongly with another measure of AjD symptoms and with symptoms of depression, anxiety, acute stress and negative emotions, whereas correlations with posttraumatic stress disorder, complex posttraumatic stress disorder and positive emotions were weaker. In the Swiss sample, 18.8% met diagnostic criteria for probable AjD and 10.2% in the Israeli sample. The current study provides the first evidence of the validity of the German and Hebrew versions of the IADQ and can be used for the screening of this debilitating condition.

Network structure of ICD-11 adjustment disorder: a cross-cultural comparison of three African countries.

BACKGROUND: Adjustment disorder is one of the most widespread mental disorders worldwide. In ICD-11, adjustment disorder is characterised by two main symptom clusters: preoccupation with the stressor and failure to adapt. A network analytic approach has been applied to most ICD-11 stress-related disorders. However, no study to date has explored the relationship between symptoms of adjustment disorder using network analysis. AIMS: We aimed to explore the network structure of adjustment disorder symptoms and whether its structure replicates across questionnaire versions and samples. METHOD: A network analysis was conducted on adjustment disorder symptoms as assessed by the Adjustment Disorder-New Module (ADNM-8) and an ultra-brief version (ADNM-4) using data from 2524 participants in Nigeria (n = 1006), Kenya (n = 1018) and Ghana (n = 500). RESULTS: There were extensive connections between items across all samples in both ADNM versions. Results highlight that preoccupation symptoms seem to be more prominent in terms of edges strengths (i.e. connections) and had the highest centrality in all networks across samples and ADNM versions. Comparisons of network structure invariance revealed one difference between Nigeria and Ghana in both ADNM versions. Importantly, the ADNM-8 global strength was similar in all networks whereas in the ADNM-4 Kenya had a higher global strength score compared with Nigeria. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide evidence of the coherence of adjustment disorder in ICD-11 as assessed by the ADNM questionnaire. The prominence of preoccupation symptoms in adjustment disorder highlights a possible therapeutic target to alleviate distress. There is a need to further replicate the network structure of adjustment disorder in non-African samples.

Families in the Shadow of Traumatic Experiences: Negative World Assumptions and Family Relationships.

World assumptions (WAs) are cognitive schemas concerning an individual's views of themselves, the world, and others. Although it is well established that WAs are negatively distorted by trauma exposure and strongly associated with posttraumatic psychopathology, the potential impact of WAs on close interpersonal relationships remains largely uninvestigated. The current study explored the implications of veterans' and their spouses' WAs on their marital and parental relationships. Male Israeli veterans (N = 213) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War and their wives were assessed for WAs, marital adjustment, and positive parenting 35-37 years postwar. Analyses included actor-partner interdependence modeling with mediators (APIMem) and were conducted separately for the three domains of WAs: world benevolence, world meaningfulness, and self-worth. The results indicated that both husbands' and wives' lower scores for all domain-specific WA scales were associated with lower scores on measures of marital adjustment and positive parenting. Lower scores for both spouses on scales measuring world benevolence and self-worth were associated with a spillover from lower marital adjustment to lower positive parenting. Finally, associations between one spouse's lower WA scores and the other spouse's spillover from lower marital adjustment to lower positive parenting (i.e., cross-spillover effects) were identified for wives' world benevolence ratings and husbands' self-worth, ds = 0.14-0.72. These results point to the detrimental ramifications of negative WAs on family relationships and the dynamics between the marital and parental family subsystems.

Trajectories of depression in aging veterans and former prisoners-of-war: The role of social support and hardiness.

OBJECTIVES: Depression is a prevalent outcome of traumatic experiences, such as combat and war captivity. This study explores the heterogeneity of changes over time and assesses the contribution of trauma exposure (combat vs. war captivity), hardiness, and social support for depression trajectories. METHODS: Two groups of Israeli veterans were assessed in 1991, 2003, 2008, and 2015: 149 former prisoners-of-war (ex-POWs) and 107 combat veterans. Protective factors were evaluated in 1991. Group-based trajectory modeling was conducted to identify latent trajectories of change. RESULTS: Four trajectories of "resiliency" (62.8%), "delayed onset" (25.1%), "exacerbation" (6.2%), and "chronicity" (5.9%) were found. The majority of the resilient group were combat veterans whereas the clinical groups consisted primarily of ex-POWs. Lower hardiness and social support were related to more deleterious trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: Spirals of loss involving hardiness and social support, normative experiences, and contextual factors may present explanations for the various depression trajectories.

[Complex Posttraumatic Disorder and Work-Related Behavioral and Experience Patterns]. / Komplexe Posttraumatische Belastungsstörung und arbeitsbezogene Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined differences in work-related behavioral and experiential patterns between patients with positive screening for complex PTSD (CPTSD), patients with positive screening for PTSD and patients with negative screening for trauma sequelae. METHODS: Participants were 566 patients (mean age 50.96 +/- 8.73 years; 70.3 % female) of a psychosomatic rehabilitation clinic. Self-reported screening instruments were administered to participants at the beginning of their inpatient psychotherapy. Univariate analyses of variance were used to assess group differences in work-related experience- and behavioral patterns. The instrument identifies 11 dimensions of health-promoting or -endangering behavior and experiences in coping with work and occupational demands. RESULTS: On 8 of 11 work-related dimensions, significant differences were found between the groups "without PTSD" and "CPTSD". The "PTSD" and "CPTSD" groups differed significantly on the dimensions of "resignation tendencies", "offensive coping" and "life satisfaction". The groups "without PTSD" and "PTSD" did not differ significantly. DISCUSSION: Patients with a positive CPTSD screening represent a particularly burdened patient group in the working context. They reported problematic behavior and experience patterns that correspond to the problem areas of self-organization described in the diagnostic criteria of the ICD-11. CONCLUSION: This suggests that for patients with CPTSD special interventions within the context of medical-professional oriented rehabilitation are useful to compensate these deficits and maintain participation in working life.

Posttraumatic Stress and Sexual Satisfaction in Husbands and Wives: A Dyadic Analysis.

Trauma survivors who suffer from posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are known to experience impairments in sexual satisfaction. However, the negative effects of PTSS are not limited to the primary survivors, as they can lead to secondary PTSS in their spouses as well. The implications of secondary PTSS in the sexuality of couples remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether specific symptom clusters of PTSS (i.e., intrusions, hyperarousal, and avoidance) are implicated in the sexual satisfaction of couples. We assessed a sample of primarily exposed Israeli veterans from the Yom Kippur War and their wives who had been secondarily exposed (N = 191). The dyadic data were analyzed in an Actor-Partner Independence Model. When scrutinizing specific PTSS clusters, the husbands' avoidance related to their own sexual satisfaction. The wives' hyperarousal related to their own and their spouses' sexual satisfaction, whereas their intrusions were associated only with their husbands' sexual satisfaction. In conclusion, PTSS in one spouse is related to both spouses' sexual satisfaction; it is therefore recommended that clinicians adopt a dyadic approach when delivering interventions.

The role of parental negative world assumptions in the intergenerational transmission of war trauma.

PURPOSE: Among the most prevalent and adverse sequalae of traumatic experiences are negative world assumptions (WAs), which describe trauma-related negative cognitions regarding the self, the world, and others. Even though a wealth of studies has shown intrapersonal associations between negative WAs and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), there has been little research on how WAs may affect family systems. This study examined the intergenerational associations between parental WAs, paternal PTSS, and maternal secondary traumatic stress (STS) on adult-children's STS in veterans' families. It was hypothesized that negative paternal WAs would mediate the association between parental PTSS/STS and adult-children's STS. METHODS: Three domains of WAs (benevolence of the world, meaningfulness of the world, and self-worth) and PTSS were prospectively assessed in 123 father-mother-offspring triads of former Israeli veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, their wives and adult offspring. Data were collected in 2003, 2008, and 2014, and analyzed using triadic path modeling. RESULTS: Mothers' STS was associated with children's STS via negative maternal WAs on world benevolence. Fathers' PTSS was related to children's STS via fathers' WAs on world benevolence and self-worth. Moreover, fathers' WAs on world benevolence and self-worth mediated the intergenerational transmission of STS from mothers to offspring. No effects were found for meaningfulness WAs. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that parental WAs related to world benevolence and paternal self-worth contribute to intergenerational trauma transmission. Clinical implications favor cognitive and systemic approaches to therapy that address negative benevolence and self-worth assumptions and involve the entire family system.

Trajectories of attachment in older age: interpersonal trauma and its consequences.

Previous studies suggest that attachment insecurities may increase after trauma exposure, an effect documented only at a group level. This study explores the heterogeneity of changes over time and examines the associations of the nature of the traumatic event (interpersonal and nonpersonal), and its consequences (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and loneliness) with attachment trajectories. Two groups of Israeli veterans participated: 164 former prisoners-of-war and 185 combat veterans. Attachment was assessed at four points (1991-2015). Risk factors were evaluated in 1991. Using latent growth mixture modeling, trajectories of attachment insecurities were explored. Three avoidance trajectories (stability, decrease, inverse u-shaped) and two anxiety trajectories (stability, decrease) were identified. The inverse u-shaped avoidance trajectory was associated with captivity, humiliation, loneliness, and PTSD, and stable avoidance was associated with loneliness. Stable anxiety was associated with captivity and loneliness. Attachment insecurities can change during aging and persist decades after a trauma. Trauma-related risk factors are related to more deleterious trajectories.

Longitudinal Development of Primary and Secondary Posttraumatic Growth in Aging Veterans and Their Wives: Domain-Specific Trajectories.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG), the positive psychological transformations that follow traumatic events, affects both direct survivors (primary PTG) and their significant others (secondary PTG). Though primary and secondary PTG have been widely investigated in the literature, their long-term trajectories decades after a traumatic event, especially as survivors enter older age, remain largely uninvestigated. Furthermore, it remains contested whether PTG adds up to a monolithic construct or rather consists of relatively independent components. Addressing these issues, we assessed a sample of Israeli male veterans from the 1973 Yom Kippur war (N = 349) and their wives (N = 156) at three time points over the course of nearly three decades. Both the veterans (primary survivors) and their wives (secondary survivors) reported PTG relating to the veterans' experiences during the war and/or captivity. Latent growth mixture modeling was conducted to identify trajectories of PTG on the five subscales of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Long-term trajectories of PTG followed heterogeneous patterns of fluctuation over time and particularly as participants entered older age. On most subscales, decreasing PTG scores were evident, a trend that was more pronounced among the primary survivors than the secondary survivors as primary and secondary PTG fluctuate considerably in the long-term and seem to decrease as individuals enter older age. Furthermore, it would seem that PTG should not be considered a holistic concept but rather a conglomeration of positive changes. Implications of the findings are discussed within the context of limitations and potential intervening factors.

Traumatization, Marital Adjustment, and Parenting among Veterans and Their Spouses: A Longitudinal Study of Reciprocal Relations.

Despite considerable research on secondary traumatization, the ramifications of veterans' and their wives' posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) for the family system remain largely uninvestigated. Beginning to fill this gap, the current study aims to investigate the reciprocal relations between both spouses' PTSS and marital adjustment, and the implications these bear for their parental functioning. Two hundred and twenty-five Israeli veterans (mean age = 58.62, SD = 7.6) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War and their wives (mean age = 58.28, SD = 5.79) were examined at two points in time: 30 (T1) and 35-37 years after the war (T2). Analysis included longitudinal actor-partner interdependence modeling and sequential mediation analyses. The results show that higher PTSS among the wives at T1 predicted higher PTSS among husbands at T2, and vice versa, and predicted their husbands' marital adjustment at T2. Moreover, wives' PTSS at T1 had a significant effect on parental overinvolvement of both parents at T2, but neither their PTSS nor their husbands' PTSS had an impact on positive parenting. In the intrapersonal domain, better marital adjustment at T1 predicted positive parenting among both spouses in subsequent measurement. Interpersonally, wives' lower marital adjustment at T1 predicted husbands' higher parental functioning, but not vice versa. Furthermore, marital adjustment mediated the association between PTSS and positive parenting for both spouses. The results emphasize the detrimental ramifications of war trauma on the interpersonal domains in veterans' families. Hence, both marital and parental consequences of trauma should be considered in clinical family interventions.

Self-help interventions for adjustment disorder problems: a randomized waiting-list controlled study in a sample of burglary victims.

Adjustment disorders (AjD) are among the most frequent mental disorders yet often remain untreated. The high prevalence, comparatively mild symptom impairment, and transient nature make AjD a promising target for low-threshold self-help interventions. Bibliotherapy represents a potential treatment for AjD problems. This study investigates the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral self-help manual specifically directed at alleviating AjD symptoms in a homogenous sample of burglary victims. Participants with clinical or subclinical AjD symptoms following experience of burglary were randomized to an intervention group (n = 30) or waiting-list control group (n = 24). The new explicit stress response syndrome model for diagnosing AjD was applied. Participants received no therapist support and assessments took place at baseline, after the one-month intervention, and at three-month follow-up. Based on completer analyses, group by time interactions indicated that the intervention group showed more improvement in AjD symptoms of preoccupation and in post-traumatic stress symptoms. Post-intervention between-group effect sizes ranged from Cohen's d = .17 to .67 and the proportion of participants showing reliable change was consistently higher in the intervention group than in the control group. Engagement with the self-help manual was high: 87% of participants had worked through at least half the manual. This is the first published RCT of a bibliotherapeutic self-help intervention for AjD problems. The findings provide evidence that a low-threshold self-help intervention without therapist contact is a feasible and effective treatment for symptoms of AjD.

The association between dissociative symptoms and schizophrenia-related negative symptoms: A transdiagnostic approach.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia remain clinically and theoretically understudied and represent an unmet psychiatric need. Negative symptoms are assumed to be related to other psychiatric disorders, but their association with dissociative symptoms is yet to be explored, particularly in light of depression and anxiety symptoms. We examined the five domains of negative symptoms (anhedonia, asociality, avolition, blunted affect and alogia) in an Israeli national sample of 1930 participants of whom 645 (33.4%) were with increased risk for dissociative disorder. The results show that anhedonia, blunted affect and alogia significantly associated with risk for dissociative disorder, above and beyond depression and anxiety. When assessing for negative symptoms it may be worth screening for dissociation and vice versa and thus make a more accurate clinical picture of the interplay between them.

A new approach to cultural scripts of trauma sequelae assessment: The sample case of Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: The novel concept of cultural scripts of trauma sequelae captures culture-specific expressions of posttraumatic distress (e.g., cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, psychosomatic changes) and their temporal associations. Cultural scripts of trauma sequelae complement pan-cultural (etic) diagnoses, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD, as well as the cultural syndromes concept. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop the cultural scripts of trauma inventory (CSTI) for German-speaking Switzerland and to explore temporal associations of script elements. METHOD: Five semi-structured focus groups were conducted with psychotraumatologists (n = 8) and Swiss trauma survivors (n = 7). The interview schedule included open questions about different domains of potential posttraumatic changes (emotions, cognitions, worldviews, interpersonal relationships, body-related experiences, behavior, and growth). Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The Swiss CSTI includes 57 emic elements that represent salient trauma sequelae (30 conformed with a theoretically derived item pool, 27 were newly phrased). Temporal script associations were visualized in a network, whereby self-deprecation, the urge to function and overcompensate, and the urge to hide and endure suffering had the highest number of connections. CONCLUSION: While many posttraumatic changes identified in the present work seem to mirror pan-cultural phenomena represented in the Complex PTSD concept (e.g., self-deprecation), others (e.g., urge to function and perform, urge to hide and endure suffering) may be prominently related to Swiss culture with its value orientations. Knowledge about cultural scripts of trauma sequelae may provide a culture-specific framework that can help to understand individual experiences of distress and enable mental health practitioners to administer culturally sensitive interventions. Pending further validation, the Swiss CSTI bears the potential to advance culture-sensitive assessment of trauma sequelae.

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder in intergenerational trauma transmission among Eritrean asylum-seeking mother-child dyads.

Background: Traumatic stress among forcibly displaced people has a variety of adverse consequences beyond individual mental health, including implications for poor socioemotional developmental outcomes for their children post-displacement.Objective: This study explored the intergenerational transmission of maternal ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and depression among asylum-seeking mothers for their children's internalizing and externalizing difficulties.Method: Participants were 127 trauma-affected Eritrean mothers of preschool-aged children in Israel. The severity of child difficulties was compared between mothers with probable ICD-11 CPTSD (94.5% comorbid depression), ICD-11 PTSD (48.5% comorbid depression), unimorbid depression, and healthy mothers, using multivariate analyses of variance, while controlling for children's direct exposure to adverse life experiences.Results: Probable ICD-11 CPTSD and PTSD were present in 23.6% and 26.0% of mothers, respectively. Relative to maternal PTSD, CPTSD was significantly and strongly associated with elevated child internalizing symptoms (d = 2.44) and marginally significantly, although strongly, associated with child externalizing symptoms (d = 1.30). Post-hoc exploratory analyses documented that, relative to maternal PTSD and depression, CPTSD and depression comorbidity was marginally significantly but strongly associated with child internalizing (SMD = .67), but not externalizing symptoms (SMD = .35).Conclusions: Findings implicate maternal CPTSD and comorbid depression in child socio-emotional development and inform clinical assessment, prevention, and intervention to attenuate poor development among children in unstable post-displacement settings.

Trauma among forcibly displaced people has a variety of aversive multisystemic consequences, compromising the socioemotional development of non-exposed children.ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and comorbid depression may be functionally important to elevated risk for maternal intergenerational trauma transmission, even relative to ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).To effectively attenuate intergenerational transmission of trauma post-displacement, efforts and resources should be invested in maternal mental health care as well as socio-culturally adapted, trauma-sensitive parenting training.

Exploring Characteristics of Preoccupation and Failure to Adapt Among Patients Suffering From Adjustment Disorder: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Adjustment Disorder (AjD) is a frequent diagnosis in psychological and psychiatric consultations. Recently, the ICD-11 has introduced preoccupation and failure to adapt as core symptoms of AjD. However, empirical research that explores the various possible manifestations of preoccupation and failure to adapt in AjD patients is sparse. Therefore, the study aimed to explore patients' experiences of the core symptoms of AjD in a qualitative study. Method: We recruited 16 patients suffering from ICD-11 AjD who filled in self-report questionnaires to assess sociodemographic information, adjustment disorder symptoms, anxiety and depression. Then, they participated in a semi-structured interview with a trained psychologist to explore the determinants and characteristics of their preoccupation and failure to adapt symptoms. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the responses. Results: Six themes were identified in our analysis 1) Preoccupation triggers, 2) Preoccupations and negative emotions, 3) Strategies to stop preoccupation, 4) Consequences of preoccupation, 5) Manifestation of difficulties/failure to adapt and 6) Strategies to address difficulties/failure to adapt. Conclusion: We found partial congruence between our data and previous conceptualizations of AjD. Preoccupations seem to be time-consuming, center around stressors and their consequences, and be associated with negative emotions. Some preoccupations reported by the patients could also be labeled as ruminations or worries. The failure to adapt symptoms seemed to be broader than the exemplary symptoms highlighted in current measures of AjD.

The association between negative war-related beliefs and probable PTSD and complex PTSD among Ukrainians during the 2022 Russian invasion.

The ongoing Ukraine-Russia war triggered significant mental health consequences, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD). A population study with 1895 Ukrainians explored the association between negative war-related beliefs and risk for PTSD and CPTSD. Negative war-related beliefs were shown to be significantly linked to increased risks for PTSD and more so for CPTSD. Interventions that address negative war-related beliefs could mitigate the mental health impact of war.