Rani Hoff

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Rani A. Hoff is a professor of psychiatry and a director of a national center for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at Yale University.

Contents

Life and work

Rani Hoff, daughter of Robert and Victoria Hoff, grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and first became a concertmaster of the Erie Philharmonic Youth orchestra at the age of 10. [1] She graduated with a BS in mathematics and biology from Mercyhurst University in 1985 at the age of 16, and within the next two months she joined the Army and was reporting to basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, hoping to become a medical specialist. [2] [1]

After her discharge from the Army, she enrolled at Yale University where she received her MPH in chronic disease epidemiology, and her PhD in mental health services research and psychiatric epidemiology. [1] [3] Upon completion of her studies, she joined the staff at Yale and was promoted to full professor in 2013. [4]

Her research examines risk factors and correlates of several psychiatric disorders, paying particular attention to disorders that occur together. This research has included studies on pathological gambling, schizophrenia, substance abuse/dependence, the risk of suicide in psychiatric patients, trauma and comorbidity, criminal justice mental health, and the mental health problems experienced by the homeless. [5]

Hoff is a former associate director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program [5] and the head of the Women and Trauma Core of Women’s Health at Yale. [6]

Selected publications

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 such as accidents, violence, sexual assault, terror, or sensory overload.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) 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.

Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dual diagnosis is the condition of having a mental illness and a comorbid substance use disorder. There is considerable debate surrounding the appropriateness of using a single category for a heterogeneous group of individuals with complex needs and a varied range of problems. The concept can be used broadly, for example depression and alcohol use disorder, or it can be restricted to specify severe mental illness and substance use disorder, or a person who has a milder mental illness and a drug dependency, such as panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder and is dependent on opioids. Diagnosing a primary psychiatric illness in people who use substances is challenging as substance use disorder itself often induces psychiatric symptoms, thus making it necessary to differentiate between substance induced and pre-existing mental illness.

Military psychiatry covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context. The aim of military psychiatry is to keep as many serving personnel as possible fit for duty and to treat those disabled by psychiatric conditions. Military psychiatry encompasses counseling individuals and families on a variety of life issues, often from the standpoint of life strategy counseling, as well as counseling for mental health issues, substance abuse prevention and substance abuse treatment; and where called for, medical treatment for biologically based mental illness, among other elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military sexual trauma</span> U.S. legal term for sexual assault or harassment during military service

As defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, military sexual trauma (MST) are experiences of sexual assault, or repeated threatening sexual harassment that occurred while a person was in the United States Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Robins</span>

Lee Nelken Robins was an American professor of social science in psychiatry and a leader in psychiatric epidemiology research. She was affiliated with the Washington University in St. Louis for more than 50 years from 1954 until 2007.

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.

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.

Operational stress injury or OSI is a non-clinical, non-medical term referring to a persistent psychological difficulty caused by traumatic experiences or prolonged high stress or fatigue during service as a military member or first responder. The term does not replace any individual diagnoses or disorders, but rather describes a category of mental health concerns linked to the particular challenges that these military members or first responders encounter in their service. There is not yet a single fixed definition. The term was first conceptualized within the Canadian Armed Forces to help foster understanding of the broader mental health challenges faced by military members who have been impacted by traumatic experiences and who face difficulty as a result. OSI encompasses a number of the diagnoses found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) classification system, with the common thread being a linkage to the operational experiences of the afflicted. The term has gained traction outside of the military community as an appropriate way to describe similar challenges suffered by those whose work regularly exposes them to trauma, particularly front line emergency first responders such as but not limited to police, firefighters, paramedics, correctional officers, and emergency dispatchers. The term, at present mostly used within Canada, is increasingly significant in the development of legislation, policy, treatments and benefits in the military and first responder communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Merikangas</span> American psychologist

Kathleen Ries Merikangas is the Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has published more than 300 papers, and is best known for her work in adolescent mental disorders.

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.

Mary E. Larimer is an American psychologist and academic. Larimer is a professor of psychiatry and Behavioral sciences, Professor or Psychology, and the Director of the Center for the Study of Health & Risk Behaviors at University of Washington (UW). Additionally, she serves as a psychologist at the Psychiatry Clinic at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt.

<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.

Suicide and trauma is the increased risk of suicide that is caused by psychological trauma.

Psychological trauma in adultswho are older, is the overall prevalence and occurrence of trauma symptoms within the older adult population.. This should not to be confused with geriatric trauma. Although there is a 90% likelihood of an older adult experiencing a traumatic event, there is a lack of research on trauma in older adult populations. This makes research trends on the complex interaction between traumatic symptom presentation and considerations specifically related to the older adult population difficult to pinpoint. This article reviews the existing literature and briefly introduces various ways, apart from the occurrence of elder abuse, that psychological trauma impacts the older adult population.

Katie A. McLaughlin is an American clinical psychologist and expert on how stress, trauma, and other adverse events, such as natural disorders or pandemics, affect behavioral and brain development during childhood and adolescence. McLaughlin is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Recruiter Journal. U.S. Army Recruiting Command. 1985.
  2. "Rani Hoff, MPH, PhD". Yale School of Medicine. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health. "VA.gov | Veterans Affairs". www.mirecc.va.gov. Retrieved 2023-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. "Rani Hoff promoted to full professor". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  5. 1 2 "Evaluation Division and Staff". PTSD: National Center for PTSD. US Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  6. "Important Women in Public Health". Rivier University. Retrieved 9 April 2020.