Jon Elhai

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Jon Elhai (born 1972 in Baltimore, Maryland) is Distinguished Professor of clinical psychology at the University of Toledo. Elhai is known for being an expert in the assessment and diagnosis of Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), forensic psychological assessment of PTSD, and detection of fabricated/malingered PTSD; as well as in internet addictions.

Contents

Academic career

Elhai earned his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Delaware in 1994. He earned his M.S. in Clinical Psychology in 1996 and his Ph.D. in 2000 from Nova Southeastern University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in PTSD at the Medical University of South Carolina and Charleston Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In 2003, he was awarded the Chaim Danieli Young Professional Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. [1] In 2007, he was awarded the Samuel J. and Anne G. Beck Award for outstanding early career research in personality assessment from the Society for Personality Assessment. [2]

Research

Elhai's research on PTSD has focused on such issues as assessment and diagnostic questions, [3] psychopathology and symptom structure, [4] co-occurring mental disorders, [5] and psychological treatment issues.

Elhai is particularly known for examining the detection of fabricated PTSD using psychological assessment instruments such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, [6] and Trauma symptom inventory [7] For example, he developed the Fptsd scale [8] of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 as a means to detect fabricated PTSD, which has demonstrated modest success. [9] [10]

One of Elhai's particularly well-known scientific articles involved an examination of Vietnam combat military records. Specifically, because of anecdotes describing isolated cases of Americans falsely claiming to have served in combat during the Vietnam War and to suffer from PTSD as a result, [11] B. Christopher Frueh, Elhai and collaborators examined the official military records of individuals presenting to the PTSD Clinic of the Charleston (South Carolina) Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in order to systematically evaluate the prevalence of fraudulently reported Vietnam combat exposure in 100 consecutively presenting individuals. The authors found evidence of some fraudulent cases: most alarming, 32% served in Vietnam but had no documentation of combat exposure, 3% served in the military but not in Vietnam, and 2% never served in the military. [12] Although the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of the Inspector General subsequently supported these results in their own study, [13] others have challenged the use of official military records as an infallible method of corroborating combat exposure in support of a PTSD diagnosis. [14] Nonetheless, the paper by Frueh, Elhai et al. continues to generate research and debate on the veracity of veterans' reports of combat exposure. [15] [16] [17]

Elhai is also known for establishing the prevalence of using standardized instruments of traumatic event exposure and PTSD among traumatic stress clinicians and researchers. [18]

More recently, Elhai has investigated research questions in Cyberpsychology, in particular the study of problematic smartphone use. He directs the University of Toledo‘s Cyberpsychology and Internet Addictions Research Lab.

See also

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.

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.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that is controversial within the psychological community. It was devised by Francine Shapiro in 1987 and originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Reduced affect display, sometimes referred to as emotional blunting or emotional numbing, is a condition of reduced emotional reactivity in an individual. It manifests as a failure to express feelings either verbally or nonverbally, especially when talking about issues that would normally be expected to engage emotions. In this condition, expressive gestures are rare and there is little animation in facial expression or vocal inflection. Additionally, reduced affect can be symptomatic of autism, schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, depersonalization disorder, schizoid personality disorder or brain damage. It may also be a side effect of certain medications.

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.

Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy to treat anxiety disorders.

Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is a form of behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. It is characterized by two main treatment procedures – imaginal and in vivo exposures. Imaginal exposure is repeated 'on-purpose' retelling of the trauma memory. In vivo exposure is gradually confronting situations, places, and things that are reminders of the trauma or feel dangerous. Additional procedures include processing of the trauma memory and breathing retraining.

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

Jonathan Shay is an American doctor and clinical psychiatrist. He holds a B.A. from Harvard (1963), and an M.D. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his publications comparing the experiences of Vietnam veterans with the descriptions of war and homecoming in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a manualized therapy used by clinicians to help people recover from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions. It includes elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatments, one of the most widely used evidence-based therapies. A typical 12-session run of CPT has proven effective in treating PTSD across a variety of populations, including combat veterans, sexual assault victims, and refugees. CPT can be provided in individual and group treatment formats and is considered one of the most effective treatments for PTSD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veterans benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States</span> United States Department of Veteran Affairs disability support for post-traumatic stress disorder

The United States has compensated military veterans for service-related injuries since the Revolutionary War, with the current indemnity model established near the end of World War I. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began to provide disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the 1980s after the diagnosis became part of official psychiatric nosology.

Because of the substantial benefits available to individuals with a confirmed PTSD diagnosis, which causes occupational impairment, the distinct possibility of false diagnoses exist, some of which are due to malingering of PTSD. Malingering of PTSD consists of one feigning the disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that may develop after an individual experiences a traumatic event. In the United States, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs each offer disability compensation programs that provide benefits for qualified individuals with mental disorders, including PTSD. Malingering can lead to a decline in research and subsequent treatment for PTSD as it interferes with true studies. Insurance fraud may also come about through malingering, which hurts the economy.

The Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) is a psychological evaluation/assessment instrument that taps symptoms of Posttraumatic stress disorder and other posttraumatic emotional problems. It was originally published in 1995 by its developer, John Briere. It is one of the most widely used measures of posttraumatic symptomatology.

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories, dreams or flashbacks of the event; avoidance of people, places and activities that remind the individual of the event; ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world, mood changes and persistent feelings of anger, guilt or fear; alterations in arousal such as increased irritability, angry outbursts, being hypervigilant, or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.

Bartley Christopher Frueh is a clinical psychologist and American author.

Perpetrator trauma, also known as perpetration- or participation-induced traumatic stress , occurs when the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are caused by an act or acts of killing or similar horrific violence.

Rachel Yehuda is a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, the vice chair for veterans affairs in the psychiatry department, and the director of the traumatic stress studies division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She also leads the PTSD clinical research program at the neurochemistry and neuroendocrinology laboratory at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. In 2020 she became director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai.

The Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) is a free checklist designed for children and adolescents to report traumatic events and symptoms that they might feel afterward. The items cover the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically, the symptoms and clusters used in the DSM-IV. Although relatively new, there has been a fair amount of research on the CPSS due to the frequency of traumatic events involving children. The CPSS is usually administered to school children within school boundaries, or in an off-site location to assess symptoms of trauma. Some, but not all, people experience symptoms after a traumatic event, and in serious cases, these people may not get better on their own. Early and accurate identification, especially in children, of experiencing distress following a trauma could help with early interventions. The CPSS is one of a handful of promising measures that has accrued good evidence for reliability and validity, along with low cost, giving it good clinical utility as it addresses a public health need for better and larger scale assessment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders</span> Association of PTSD and substance dependencies

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect about 3.6% of the U.S. population each year, and 6.8% of the U.S. population over a lifetime. 8.4% of people in the U.S. are diagnosed with substance use disorders (SUD). Of those with a diagnosis of PTSD, a co-occurring, or comorbid diagnosis of a SUD is present in 20–35% of that clinical population.

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.

References

  1. ↑ ISTSS. "Awards". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  2. ↑ SPA. "Awards". Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  3. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Ford, J. D., Ruggiero, K. J., & Frueh, B. C. (2009). "Diagnostic alterations for post-traumatic stress disorder: Examining data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication and National Survey of Adolescents". Psychological Medicine. 39 (12): 1957–1966. doi:10.1017/S0033291709005819. PMID   19379536. S2CID   17477896.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Elhai, J. D., & Palmieri, P. A. (2011). "Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom instruments and factor structure: An update on the current literature and advancing a research agenda". Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 25 (6): 849–854. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.04.007. PMID   21793239.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Grubaugh, A. L., Kashdan, T. B., & Frueh, B. C. (2008). "Empirical examination of a proposed refinement to DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder symptom criteria using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication data". Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 42 (4): 597–602. doi:10.4088/JCP.v69n0411. PMID   18294026.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Gold, S. N., Sellers, A. H., & Dorfman, W. I. (2001). "The detection of malingered posttraumatic stress disorder with MMPI-2 fake bad indices". Assessment. 8 (2): 221–236. doi:10.1177/107319110100800210. PMID   11428701. S2CID   22379696.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Gray, M. J., Naifeh, J. A., Butcher, J. J., Davis, J. L., Falsetti, S. A., & Best, C. L. (205). "Utility of the Trauma Symptom Inventory's Atypical Response Scale in detecting malingered post-traumatic stress disorder". Assessment. 12 (2): 210–219. doi:10.1177/1073191105275456. PMID   15914722. S2CID   39895515.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Ruggiero, K. J., Frueh, B. C., Beckham, J. C., Gold, P. B., & Feldman, M. E. (2002). "The Infrequency-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (Fptsd) for the MMPI-2: Development and initial validation with veterans presenting with combat-related PTSD". Journal of Personality Assessment. 79 (3): 531–549. doi:10.1207/S15327752JPA7903_08. PMID   12511019. S2CID   2226743.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Arbisi, P. A., Ben-Porath, Y. S., & McNulty, J. (2006). "The ability of the MMPI-2 to detect feigned PTSD within the context of compensation seeking". Psychological Services. 3 (4): 249–261. doi:10.1037/1541-1559.3.4.249.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Marshall, M. B., & Bagby, R. M. (2006). "The incremental validity and clinical utility of the MMPI-2 Infrequency Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale". Assessment. 13 (4): 417–429. doi:10.1177/1073191106290842. PMID   17050912. S2CID   37733127.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Burkett, B. G., & Whitley, G. (1998). Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History. Verity Press. ISBN   1-56530-284-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Frueh, B. C., Elhai, J. D., Grubaugh, A. L. , Monnier, J., Kashdan, T. B., Sauvageot, J. A., Hamner, M. B., Burkett, B. G., & Arana, G. W. (2005). "Documented combat exposure of U.S. veterans seeking treatment for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder". British Journal of Psychiatry. 186 (6): 467–472. doi: 10.1192/bjp.186.6.467 . PMID   15928355.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (May 19, 2005). "Review of State Variances in VA Disability Compensation Payments" (PDF). Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  14. ↑ Joseph R. Moore (July 24, 2005). "A Misleading Premise and Flawed Methodology". London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  15. ↑ Dohrenwend, B. P., Turner, J. B., Turse, N. A., Adams, B. G., Koenen, K. C., & Marshall, R. (August 18, 2006). "The psychological risks of Vietnam for U.S. veterans: A revisit with new data and methods". Science. 313 (5789): 979–982. Bibcode:2006Sci...313..979D. doi:10.1126/science.1128944. PMC   1584215 . PMID   16917066.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ McNally, R. J. (2007). "Revisiting Dohrenwend et al.'s revisit of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 20 (4): 481–486. doi:10.1002/jts.20257. PMID   17721958.
  17. ↑ Kilpatrick, D. G. (2007). "Confounding the critics: The Dohrenwend and colleagues reexamination of the National Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Study". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 20 (4): 487–493. doi:10.1002/jts.20262. PMID   17721965.
  18. ↑ Elhai, J. D., Gray, M. J., Kashdan, T. B., & Franklin, C. L. (2005). "Which instruments are most commonly used to assess traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic effects?: A survey of traumatic stress professionals". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 18 (5): 541–545. doi:10.1002/jts.20062. PMID   16281252.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Bibliography


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