Self-Study Unit 1: Journalism & Trauma

ON THE INTERNET

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Dart Award for Excellence In Reporting on Victims of Violence
PTSD 101 by Frank Ochberg
Role-playing and Interactive Drama in Teaching and Learning
National Center for PTSD

BOOKS & ARTICLES

Coté, William and Roger Simpson, Covering Violence: A Guide to Ethical Reporting About Victims and Trauma. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Bloom, Sandra L., M.D., and Michael Reichert, Ph.D. Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility. New York: Haworth, 1998.

Bloom, Sandra L., M.D. Creating Sanctuary. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Sapolsky, Robert M. Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide To Stress, Stress-related Diseases And Coping.

Nieman Reports, "Violence," Vol. L, No. 3, Fall 1998, pages 4-38.

Allen, Jon (1995). Coping with Trauma: A Guide to Self-Understanding (American Psychiatric Press, 1995). Dr. Allen, a clinical psychologist at the Menninger Clinic, explains the effects of traumatic experience on the survivor's personality, physiological functioning, and social relationships. He discusses the symptoms of PTSD, dissociative disorders, and other recognized psychiatric disorders associated with trauma, and describes treatment approaches and self-help techniques.

Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery (1992, Basic Books). This book offers a feminist perspective linking sexual and domestic violence with combat and political terror. These have a common effect on survivors: disempowerment and denial. Drawing upon published research and her own clinical work, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman asserts that just as "traumatic syndromes have basic features in common, the recovery process also follows a common pathway." Trauma and Recovery explores ways in which the treatment process can empower the survivor.

Van Der Kolk, Bessel A. (Editor), Alexander C. McFarlane (Editor), and Lars Weisaeth (Editor), (1996). Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. This book presents a comprehensive synthesis of research and clinical knowledge on traumatic stress and its treatment. The book examines the history of individual and societal responses to trauma, acute traumatic reactions, adaptations to trauma, mechanisms and processes of memory, developmental and cultural issues, and treatment issues. Controversies in the field are addressed, such as the role of memory, the relationships between biological and psychological processes, and legal issues.

Matsakis, Aphrodite. (1992). I Can't Get Over it: A Handbook for Trauma Survivors (New Harbinger Publications). A psychotherapist specializing in PTSD who has worked extensively with Vietnam veterans and survivors of child sexual abuse, the author explains in detail the symptoms of PTSD, and suggests a wide variety of techniques for coping with them. A new edition of her 1988 book Vietnam Wives: Facing the Challenges of Life with Veterans Suffering Post Traumatic Stress (Sidran Press, 1996) deals with the additional stresses brought arising from midlife as well as those stemming from the experience of combat.

Shengold, Leonard. Soul Murder: The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation. (Yale University Press, 1989) examines the adult lives of child abuse survivors from a psychoanalytic perspective. Drawing from the lives and works of Chekhov, Dickens, Kipling, and Orwell, he demonstrates the ubiquity of deliberate abuse and its devastating effects.