A grassroots effort to serve the mental health needs of veterans enables therapists to extend to their impact.

In the early days of the trauma field, clients were seen as one-dimensional bundles of dysfunction and pain, who needed to relive their trauma before progress could be made. But an increased interest in post-traumatic growth has allowed many therapists to see that insight and healing can occur not only in the midst of devastating experiences, but even because of them.

“In addition to all the destruction and loss of life, war also inspires ancient human virtues of courage, loyalty, and selflessness that can be utterly intoxicating to the people who experience them,” writes war correspondent Sebastian Junger. He believes understanding that experience and the alienation that can accompany a soldier’s return to civilian life is the key to understanding the persistence of PTSD in so many war vets today.

Mobile apps offer tools for everything from depression, social anxiety, and binge eating to phobias, OCD, postpartum problems, and substance abuse recovery. In some cases, they’re even being marketed as actual providers of therapy, or at least therapy-like help. Since solace-by-app is here to stay, what do therapists need to know?

To date, virtual reality’s most visible therapeutic role has been in the treatment of phobias and other conditions where it’s served as an adjunct to imaginary and in-vivo modalities. However, newer applications have started to move beyond the idea of altering our sense of place to emphasize altering our very sense of self. So what will that mean for our field?

Therapists wade into the controversy about trigger warnings for potentially disturbing college course material.

How an understanding of the brain can inform our trauma interventions.

A group of innovators and leaders look back over different realms of therapeutic practice and offer their view of the eureka moments, the mistakes and misdirections, and the inevitable trial-and-error processes that have shaped the evolution of different specialty areas within the field. 

Immigration is often a trauma that leaves indelible marks on those who’ve left behind family, cultural values, and status. Perhaps more than any other client population, immigrants need a therapeutic space to understand the inner transformation their continuing journey requires.

With traumatized adolescent clients, it’s emotion that gradually changes emotion—not rational explanation or interpretation, not snazzy techniques or “fake it till you make it” exhortations.