CALPCC welcomes our partnership with Early Life Stress and Resilience Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medicine as we host Souhad Chbeir, Ph.D. and Selma Tanovic, MD. The co-presenters will faciliate our live webinar. Please read below to learn more information. 

Chronic Traumatic Stress: Neurobiology, Assessment, and Treatment

Since DSM-III, concept of traumatic stress focused mostly on acute, one-time traumatic event, leading to symptoms of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome (type I trauma). However, over the last decades, with increased research and awareness of effects of adversity, systematic racism, violence and poverty on human health, another type of trauma came into a spotlight: chronic trauma (type II trauma). Repeated traumatic events lead to specific neurobiological changes significantly impacting all domains of developmental functioning in children and youth: emotional, social, academic and behavioral. Therefore, in addition to classical symptoms of post-traumatic stress-disorder, in children and youth impacted by chronic traumatic stress, we may see more significant denial, numbing, guilt, shame, and personality changes (Herman, 1992). 

In the first part of presentation, we will review the concept of allostatic load, neurobiological changes that occur under chronic stress, as well as some of the common clinical presentations of chronic traumatic stress through case examples. During the second part of the webinar, we will address the different evidence-based interventions for acute and complex trauma. Specifically, we will elaborate on the highly effective interventions such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, Cue-Centered Therapy and Narrative Exposure Therapy.