Bonnie L. Green

Last updated
Bonnie L. Green
AwardsAward for Outstanding Contributions to the Science of Trauma Psychology, 2012
Academic work
InstitutionsGeorgetown University Medical School

Bonnie L. Green is a psychiatrist known for her research of trauma-related mental health needs of female primary care patients from lower-income households. She was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

Contents

Biography

From 1970 to 1990, Green taught at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center as a professor of Psychiatry. Following that, from 1987 to 2006, she was a professor at the University of Cincinnati. Until 2015, Green was a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry and founding associate dean for Faculty Development for Georgetown University Medical School. [1]

Following that, she was the director of the Georgetown Center for Trauma and the Community; within her time in this position, she aided in the development of intervention methods of trauma related needs within lower-income communities. She was the editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress from 1993 [2] until 1997, [3] and served as president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies from 2000 to 2001. [4]

She holds the position of Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University Medical School.

Research

Green's research has addressed trauma-related issues in multiple situations. In the years following the Buffalo Creek flood, Green examined the mental health of people in the twenty years following the flood. [5] Following the Oklahoma City bombing, Green talked about the impact of the event on the mental health of survivors. [6] She also provided training for medical professionals to enable them to work successfully with trauma patients. [7] Green is also known for her work identifying symptoms of psychiatric issues within people with early-stage breast cancer, [8] and for her work examining the effectiveness of intervention for low-income and minority women with depression. The results of the study note that medication and psychotherapy interventions caused a reduction in symptoms of depression. [9]

Selected publications

Honors and awards

In 2012, Green won the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Science of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association's Division 56 of the Field of Trauma Psychology. [10]

Related Research Articles

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dialectical behavior therapy</span> Psychotherapy for emotional dysregulation

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that began with efforts to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts. Evidence suggests that DBT can be useful in treating mood disorders and suicidal ideation as well as for changing behavioral patterns such as self-harm and substance use. DBT evolved into a process in which the therapist and client work with acceptance and change-oriented strategies and ultimately balance and synthesize them—comparable to the philosophical dialectical process of thesis and antithesis, followed by synthesis.

Psychological trauma is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events that are outside the normal range of human experiences. It must be understood by the affected person as directly threatening the affected person or their loved ones with death, severe bodily injury, or sexual violence; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not produce trauma per se. Examples include violence, rape, or a terrorist attack.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress-related mental disorder generally occurring in response to complex traumas, i.e., commonly prolonged or repetitive exposures to a series of traumatic events, within which individuals perceive little or no chance to escape.

Gender is correlated with the prevalence of certain mental disorders, including depression, anxiety and somatic complaints. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with major depression, while men are more likely to be diagnosed with substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder. There are no marked gender differences in the diagnosis rates of disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Men are at risk to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to past violent experiences such as accidents, wars and witnessing death, and women are diagnosed with PTSD at higher rates due to experiences with sexual assault, rape and child sexual abuse. Nonbinary or genderqueer identification describes people who do not identify as either male or female. People who identify as nonbinary or gender queer show increased risk for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. People who identify as transgender demonstrate increased risk for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Somatic psychology or, more precisely, "somatic clinical psychotherapy" is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on somatic experience, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body. It seeks to explore and heal mental and physical injury and trauma through body awareness and movement. Wilhelm Reich was first to try to develop a clear psychodynamic approach that included the body.

Memory and trauma is the deleterious effects that physical or psychological trauma has on memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuval Neria</span>

Yuval Neria is a Professor of Medical Psychology at the Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), and Director of Trauma and PTSD Program, and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. He is a recipient of the Medal of Valor, Israel's highest decoration, for his exploits during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder that can develop in women who have recently given birth. This disorder can also affect men or partners who have observed a difficult birth. Its symptoms are not distinct from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It may also be called post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth (PTSD-FC).

Psychological first aid (PFA) is a technique designed to reduce the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder. It was developed by the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (NC-PTSD), a section of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, in 2006. It has been endorsed and used by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the American Psychological Association (APA) and many others. It was developed in a two-day intensive collaboration, involving more than 25 disaster mental health researchers, an online survey of the first cohort that used PFA and repeated reviews of the draft.

Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy or counselling that aims at addressing the needs of children and adolescents with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other difficulties related to traumatic life events. This treatment was developed and proposed by Drs. Anthony Mannarino, Judith Cohen, and Esther Deblinger in 2006. The goal of TF-CBT is to provide psychoeducation to both the child and non-offending caregivers, then help them identify, cope, and re-regulate maladaptive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Research has shown TF-CBT to be effective in treating childhood PTSD and with children who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events, including but not limited to physical or sexual victimization, child maltreatment, domestic violence, community violence, accidents, natural disasters, and war. More recently, TF-CBT has been applied to and found effective in treating complex posttraumatic stress disorder.

A moral injury is an injury to an individual's moral conscience and values resulting from an act of perceived moral transgression on the part of themselves or others. It produces profound feelings of guilt or shame, moral disorientation, and societal alienation. In some cases it may cause a sense of betrayal and anger toward colleagues, commanders, the organization, politics, or society at large.

Trauma risk management (TRiM) is a method of secondary PTSD prevention. The TRiM process enables non-healthcare staff to monitor and manage colleagues. TRiM training provides practitioners with a background understanding of psychological trauma and its effects.

Secondary trauma can be incurred when an individual is exposed to people who have been traumatized themselves, disturbing descriptions of traumatic events by a survivor, or others inflicting cruelty on one another. Symptoms of secondary trauma are similar to those of PTSD. Secondary trauma has been researched in first responders, nurses and physicians, mental health care workers, and children of traumatized parents.

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is the use of prescribed doses of MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy sessions. Research suggests that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including Complex PTSD, might improve treatment effectiveness. In 2017, a Phase II clinical trial led to "breakthrough therapy" designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for potential use as a treatment for PTSD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet-based treatments for trauma survivors</span>

Internet-based treatments for trauma survivors is a growing class of online treatments that allow for an individual who has experienced trauma to seek and receive treatment without needing to attend psychotherapy in person. The progressive movement to online resources and the need for more accessible mental health services has given rise to the creation of online-based interventions aimed to help those who have experienced traumatic events. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be particularly effective in the treatment of trauma-related disorders and adapting CBT to an online format has been shown to be as effective as in-person CBT in the treatment of trauma. Due to its positive outcomes, CBT-based internet treatment options for trauma survivors has been an expanding field in both research and clinical settings.

J. Gayle Beck is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma stress disorders and anxiety disorders. She is the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in the Department of Psychology at the University of Memphis.

Betty Pfefferbaum is a psychiatrist known for her early work in mental health treatment for children after a disaster. She is the director of the Terrorism and Disaster Center in the College of Medicine at Oakland University.

Over the last fifty years, there has been an increase in the different types of media that are accessible to the public. Most people use online search engines, social media, or other online news outlets to find out what is going on in the world. This increase can lead to people easily viewing negative images and stories about traumatic events that they would not have been exposed to otherwise. One thing to consider is how the dissemination of this information may be impacting the mental health of people who identify with the victims of the violence they hear and see through the media. The viewing of these traumatic videos and stories can lead to the vicarious traumatization of the viewers.  

Hispanic immigrants living in the United States have been found to have higher levels of exposure to trauma and lower mental health service utilization than the general population. Those who met the criteria for asylum and experience trauma before migrating are vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Higher levels of trauma-related symptoms are associated with increased post-migration living difficulties. Despite the need for mental health services for Hispanic immigrants living in the United States, cultural and structural barriers make accessing treatment challenging.

References

  1. "Bonnie L. Green, PhD". Center for Trauma and the Community. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  2. Green, Bonnie L. (1993). "Editorial note". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 6 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1002/jts.2490060102. ISSN   0894-9867.
  3. Green, Bonnie L. (1997). "Editorial note". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 10 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1002/jts.2490100102. ISSN   0894-9867.
  4. "Past Presidents". International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  5. Elias, Marilyn (28 September 2005). "Storms' collateral damage ; 'Danger signs' point to stress disorders after disasters". USA TODAY; McLean, Va. pp. D.10 via Proquest.
  6. Suplee, Curt Suplee (April 27, 1995). "TRAGEDY WILL TAKE A TOLL ON MENTAL HEALTH OF SURVIVORS". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2024-07-13.
  7. Eisenman, David; Weine, Stevan; Green, Bonnie; Jong, Joop de; Rayburn, Nadine; Ventevogel, Peter; Keller, Allen; Agani, Ferid (2006-02-01). "The ISTSS/Rand Guidelines on Mental Health Training of Primary Healthcare Providers for Trauma-Exposed Populations in Conflict-Affected Countries". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 19 (1): 5–17. doi:10.1002/jts.20094. ISSN   0894-9867. PMID   16568460.
  8. Green, Bonnie L.; Krupnick, Janice L.; Rowland, Julia H.; Epstein, Steven A.; Stockton, Patricia; Spertus, Ilyse; Stern, Nicole (2000-03-01). "Trauma History as a Predictor of Psychologic Symptoms in Women With Breast Cancer". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 18 (5): 1084–1093. doi:10.1200/JCO.2000.18.5.1084. ISSN   0732-183X. PMID   10694561.
  9. Miranda, Jeanne; Chung, Joyce Y.; Green, Bonnie L.; Krupnick, Janice; Siddique, Juned; Revicki, Dennis A.; Belin, Tom (2003-07-02). "Treating Depression in Predominantly Low-Income Young Minority Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial". JAMA. 290 (1): 57–65. doi:10.1001/jama.290.1.57. ISSN   0098-7484. PMID   12837712.
  10. "Psychology's top honors Congratulations to the psychologists who received awards at APA's 2012 Annual Convention last month". Vol. 43, no. 8. September 2012. p. 72.