The mission of the RAMCOA SIG is to further dialogue, knowledge, research, and training on the etiology, evaluation, and effective treatment of trauma and dissociation in clients reporting histories of ritual abuse, mind control and/or organized abuse. The RAMCOA SIG provides a listserv for its membership which aims to create a comfortable and confidential setting […]
PNES, also known as dissociative seizures, are paroxysmal events that to an observer can look a lot like epileptic seizures. However, they are called “psychogenic” because their origins are psychological. The most common risk factor in this group of patients is psychological trauma. The PNES SIG was formally approved this year and ISSTD members who […]
The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic are felt deep and wide by many of our clients who are affected by trauma and dissociation. Some noted themes of the work in response to the pandemic may include: fears for personal health and safety, loss of control; increased anxiety; feelings of loneliness; experiences of helplessness and hopelessness; […]
As Chair of the Vicarious Trauma SIG, one of my goals is to raise awareness of the importance of therapist self-care not only at the ISSTD, but also in my local therapy community. In Knoxville, TN we have an informal online mental health professionals Facebook group that includes over 460 members. This is an active […]
The TAY/ Emerging Adult SIG is a special interest group for members of ISSTD who are interested in the treatment of complex trauma in Transitional Age Youth (TAY), generally defined as clients between 18 to 24 years old. This group has specific developmental needs, as brains are still developing and they are working to understand […]
Our beloved Creative Arts SIG has once again had a very busy year. Here we provide you with an update for 2018/19, focusing on two key events: our annual conference and the Webinar. Creative Arts at the 2019 Annual Conference At the annual conference in NYC this year, the CAT SIG facilitated the second Create […]
Gender is a complex aspect of human development and identity, which forms in concert with, but independently from biological sex and sexuality. Yet, gender is often equated with biological sex and/or reduced to a simple rigid, binary construct which imposes separate, distinct sets of norms on those deemed men or women. More and more, with […]
Vicarious Trauma, the therapists’ traumatic stress reaction when hearing their clients’ trauma stories was described in professional literature by McCann and Pearlman during the 1990’s. However, we have long used a range of words to describe this reaction, including secondary trauma, compassion fatigue and even plain old “burn out”. Whatever we call it, most of […]
The Creative Arts Therapies Special Interest Group (CAT SIG) is one of the “youngest” of the Special Interest Groups of ISSTD. Founded in 2017 by three art therapists (Tally Tripp, Linda Gantt and Eva Young), this enthusiastic group was formed to highlight the unique and important contribution that the creative arts (visual art, music, dance, […]
Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, my “all-day” webinar began at 6 a.m., when Professor Warwick Middleton, from Australia, began his presentation at midnight, Australian time. As I sat bleary-eyed in front of my computer, Warwick kickstarted the day, with his talk: A Life Sentence: How the Study of Ongoing Incest During Adulthood Informs […]
