Expositions récurrentes aux événements traumatiques: inoculation ou vulnérabilité croissante?

Deux grandes hypothèses opposées ont été formulées quant à l'impact d'un événement traumatique sur l'adversité future: l'inoculation et la vulnérabilité croissante. Un examen des travaux supportant ces hypothèses indique qu'elles ne sont pas aussi antagonistes qu'elles en ont l'air. Il apparaît possible de les intégrer en une théorie unique dans la mesure où les circonstances favorisant l'une ou l'autreRecurrent exposition to traumatic events: Gradual inoculation or vulnerability? Two opposed hypotheses have been proposed regarding the impact of a traumatic event in regards to future adversity: gradual inoculation or vulnerability. A thorough examination of research supporting these hypotheses indicate they are not as antagonistic as they appear. It seems possible to integrate the two into a singular theory in so far as circumstances favoring one and the other become better known. A few research strategies are proposed

Prévalence du trouble de stress post-traumatique chez des chauffeurs d’autobus

Plusieurs rapports indiquent que les employés du transport en commun constituent un groupe de travailleurs risquant de vivre des événements traumatiques. Cependant, il n'y a que peu de données scientifiques sur l'impact de tels événements dans cette population. Lors d'une enquête épidémiologique menée auprès des chauffeurs d'autobus de la STCUM, un peu plus du tiers des chauffeurs rapportent un événement traumatique au travail. De ces événements, les menaces graves et les agressions constituent la majorité. Les événements traumatiques sont plus fréquents au travail que dans la vie privée. La prévalence à vie du TSPT est de 10,7% pour les événements subis au travail et de 21,3 % pour ceux de la vie privée. Neuf chauffeurs sur 100 exposés à un événement au travail souffraient d'un TSPT dans le mois précédant l'enquête. Lorsque nous considérons les événements survenus dans la vie privée, près de 15% de ces exposés étaient victimes d'un TSPT. Lorsque les deux milieux d'exposition sont réunis, 12% présentaient un TSPT dans le mois précédant la recherche.Many recent reports indicate that public transport employees constitute a group of workers at high risk of going through a traumatic event. Yet, very few scientific data on the impact of these events on this population are available. The authors present results of an epidemiological study conducted among Montreal bus drivers. A little more than a third of bus drivers have reported a traumatic event at work. Among the whole of traumatic events occuring during the course of their work, serious threats and assault constitute the majority of these events. Traumatic events are more frequent at work than in their private lives. The prevalence of PTSD for those exposed to a traumatic event at work is of 10,7% and of 21,3% for those bus drivers exposed to traumatic events in their private lives. Nine out of 100 drivers exposed to a traumatic event at work suffered a PTSD in the month preceding the study. When the authors consider the events occuring in the private lives, alomost 15% of those exposed were victims of PTSD. When the two levels of expositions are reunited, 12% of those exposed presented a PTSD in the month preceding the research

Mental health treatment seeking by military members with posttraumatic stress disorder : findings on rates, characteristics, and predictors from a nationally representative Canadian military sample

Objective: The goal of this study was to identify rates, characteristies, and predictors of mental health treatment seeking by military members with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: Our sample was drawn from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey-Canadian Forces Supplement (CCHS-CF) dataset. The CCHS-CF is the first epidemiologic survey of PTSD and other mental health conditions in the Canadian military and includes 8441 nationally representative Canadian Forces (CF) members. Of those, 549 who met the criteria for lifetime PTSD were included in our analyses. To identify treatment rates and characteristics, we examined frequency of treatment contact by professional and facility type. To identify predictors of treatment seeking, we conducted a binary logistic regression with lifetime treatment seeking as the outcome variable. Results: About two-thirds of those with PTSD consulted with a professional regarding mental health problems. The most frequently consulted professionals, during both the last year and lifetime, included social workers and counsellors, medical doctors and general practitioners, and psychiatrists. Consultations during the last year most often took place in a CF facility. Treatment seeking was predicted by cumulative lifetime trauma exposure, index traumatic event type, PTSD symptom interference, and comorbid major depressive disorder. Those with comorbid depression were 3.75 times more likely to have sought treatment than those without. Conclusions: Although a significant portion of military members with PTSD sought mental health treatment, 1 in 3 never did. Trauma-related and illness and (or) need factors predicted treatment seeking. Of all the predictors of treatment seeking, comorbid depression most increased the likelihood of seeking treatment

Isotope geochemistry and petrogenesis of peralkaline Middle Miocene ignimbrites from central Sonora: relationship with continental break-up and the birth of the Gulf of California

Middle Miocene peralkaline ignimbrites constitute a specific geodynamic marker of the early stage of opening of the Gulf of California, preserved either in central Sonora or the Puertecitos area, in Baja California. Very uniform ages (12-12.5 Ma) obtained on these rocks show that this volcanic episode corresponds to a specific stage in the tectonic evolution of the proto-gulf area. Field observations and slightly different Sr and Nd isotopic signatures support eruptions from several small volume magma batches rather than from a large-volume caldera forming event. Isotopic ratios help to constrain the petrogenesis of the peralkaline liquids by fractional crystallization of transitional basalts in a shallow reservoir, with slight contamination by Precambrian upper crustal material. Less differentiated glomeroporphyritic icelandites erupted at about 11 Ma, mark an increase in the magma production rate and highlight an easier access to the surface, illustrating an advanced stage in the weakening of the continental crust. The tilting of the Middle Tertiary sequences results from a major change in the tectonic regime, from E-W extension giving rise to N-S grabens, to NNW-SSE strike-slip motion that can be related to the transfer of Baja California from North America to the Pacific plate. The location of peralkaline volcanism coincides with the southern edge of the Precambrian crust and the southernmost extension of the California slab window at 12.5 Ma

Construing Worst Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA: A Thematic Analysis

© 2022 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.The COVID-19 pandemic has not only resulted in millions of deaths but, together with the strategies imposed to contain the spread of the disease, it has had significant psychological and social effects. This paper considers these effects in residents of the USA, the country that has reported the highest number of deaths from COVID-19. Between April and May, 2020, responses were obtained to an on-line survey, which included asking participants, recruited by snowball sampling, to describe their worst experience of the pandemic. The responses of 741 participants, primarily female and Caucasian, were subjected to a thematic content analysis which used a primarily deductive approach in which these responses were viewed in terms of transitions in construing. The transition themes identified were anxiety; threat; loss of role; sadness; contempt; and stress. Various subthemes were also identified. The study provided further evidence of the utility of a personal construct framework in conceptualizing experiences associated with illness and the risk of this. Implications of its findings are considered at both an individual and a societal level.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Mental health services for Syrian refugees in Lebanon: perceptions and experiences of professionals and refugees

We applied semi-structured and in-depth interviews to explore the perceptions and experiences of 60 practitioners/policymakers and 25 Syrian participants involved in mental health services for refugees in Lebanon. Refugees were found to view their distress as a normal shared reaction to adversity while professionals perceived it as symptomatic of mental illness. Practitioners viewed Syrian culture as an obstacle to providing care and prioritized educating refugees about mental health conditions. Policymakers invoked the state of crisis to justify short-term interventions, while Syrian refugees requested community interventions and considered resettlement in a third country the only solution to their adverse living conditions. The therapeutic relationship seems threatened by mistrust, since refugees change their narratives as an adaptive mechanism in response to the humanitarian system, which professionals consider manipulative. We discuss the implications of our findings for mental health practice in humanitarian settings

Neurobiological findings in posttraumatic stress disorder: a review

Since posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was first recognized as a psychiatric disorder, it has generated a great deal of scientific interest. Recent studies on the neurobiology of PTSD provide evidence that PTSD is biologically distinct from other types of traumatic and nontraumatic stress responses. This paper reviews three important directions of neurobiological research in PTSD: noradrenergic axis changes and associated alterations in autonomic responsivity neuroendocrine changes involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, and neuroanatomy changes involving the hippocampus. Each section reviews the salient aspects of preclinical research on the biology of stress and their bearing on the understanding of PTSD, and summarizes prominent findings from clinical biological studies of PTSD, Tentative models that integrate current findings from the clinical study of PTSD are reviewed. To conclude, the important methodological and empirical issues that need to be addressed by future studies are indicated

Improvement in real time detection and selectivity of phthalocyanine gas sensors dedicated to oxidizing pollutants evaluation

International audienceA sensor microsystem prototype, using copper phthalocyanine thin film as sensitive layer, and dedicated to ozone evaluation, was developed. The methodology implemented is based on cyclic sensor recalibrations by thermal cleaning of the sensitive membrane, and on pollutant concentration quantification according to the kinetics of sensor response. Results of laboratory experiments for various NO2 and O3 concentrations, in the range of 10–200 ppb, illustrate the selectivity of CuPc sensors towards ozone, obtained by our methodology. We have shown that ozone selectivity is especially improved for short time of exposure (few minutes) and for phthalocyanine layer maintained at low temperature (80 °C). For optimal conditions, our microsystem exhibits a threshold lower than 10 ppb, a resolution lower than 10 ppb, and good reproducibility of measurements. Performances obtained in real urban atmosphere are satisfying to ensure real time evaluation of ozone during several days. Long-term stability and the detection of NO2 by associating chemical filters to our microsystem will be also discussed

Analyse généalogique et structure de la population. L’ascendance des natifs de la vallée de la Valserine (Jura français), XVIIe-XXesiècles

Nous avons procédé à la reconstitution des réseaux généalogiques ascendants de tous les individus nés dans la vallée de la Valserine (Jura français) tels qu’ils sont connus par le dépouillement systématique des registres paroissiaux et d’état civil des cinq communes de cette vallée, de la fin du XVIIes. à nos jours. Notre propos est de mener une analyse quantitative de ces réseaux généalogiques ascendants pour caractériser l’ensemble de la population native de la vallée. S’agit-il d’une population homogène ou au contraire est-elle formée de plusieurs groupes présentant des histoires généalogiques contrastées ? Les analyses, fondées sur la complétude de l’information disponible, montrent que les individus nés dans la vallée peuvent être classés en deux groupes : ceux dont l’ascendance locale, par un ancêtre au moins, est établie depuis l’origine des documents disponibles et ceux ne possédant pas d’ascendance locale continue. Cette observation est vérifiée quelle que soit la période de naissance étudiée et révèle l’existence d’une « structure généalogique » de la population. Nous proposons également une méthode originale pour établir le coefficient de déperdition de l’information généalogique entre la seconde et la quatrième générations ascendantes, calcul établi aussi bien de manière relative qu’absolue. Finalement, nous reprenons la conclusion d’une étude précédente (Heyer 1993), mais en montrant que la structure de population observée (existence d’un noyau stable permanent et de flux constants d’entrées et de sorties) n’est pas une construction observée uniquement au XXes. du fait des mouvements migratoires récents. Une structure identique pouvait déjà être observée parmi les natifs du début du XVIIIes. L’étude des rangs SOSA des ascendants montre un lien entre la probabilité de maintien sur place d’une lignée familiale et le sexe des ascendants.Using the parish and civil records of five townships of the Valserine Valley, we have reconstructed the genealogical networks of all the individuals born in this valley from the end of the 17th century to the present day. Our goal is to make a quantitative analysis of these genealogical networks to characterise this population. Is this population homogeneous or can we find several groups with contrasting genealogical histories? Our analysis shows the existence of two groups of natives: the individuals with at least one ancestor present in the valley, in each generation, from the end of the 17th century, and those whose local ancestry is not continuous. This observation can be made whatever the period of birth studied and it reveals the existence of a genealogical structure in the population. We also propose an original method to calculate a coefficient of loss (absolute and relative) of the genealogical information between the second and the fourth ascending generation. Finally, we take up the conclusion of a previous study (Heyer 1993) but by showing that this population structure (a permanent stable nucleus with constant flows of immigrants and emigrants) is not a construction observed only during the 20th century due to recent migrations. In fact, the same observation can be made for the individuals born at the beginning of the 18th century. The SOSA rankings of the ancestors show a relation between the probability for a genealogical line to stay in the valley and the sex of the ancestors born in the valley