'I Can't Concentrate': A Feasibility Study with Young Refugees in Sweden on Developing Science-Driven Interventions for Intrusive Memories Related to Trauma

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy

Volumn 45, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 97-109

  Holmes, Emily A ^a,b,c,d   Ghaderi, Ata ^a,b,c,d   Eriksson, Ellinor ^a,b,c,d   Lauri, Klara Olofsdotter ^a,b,c,d   Kukacka, Olivia M ^a,b,c,d   Mamish, Maya ^a,b,c,d   James, Ella L ^a,b,c,d   Visser, Renée M ^a,b,c,d  

^a KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE   (Sweden)

^b MRC COGNITION AND BRAIN SCIENCES UNIT   (United Kingdom)

^c CENTRAL AND NORTH WEST LONDON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST   (United Kingdom)

^d LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

concentration; intrusive memories; psychological trauma; Refugees

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ATTENTION; COGNITIVE THERAPY; FEASIBILITY STUDY; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MEMORY; MENTAL HEALTH; PROCEDURES; PSYCHOLOGY; RECALL; REFUGEE; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC; SWEDEN; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ATTENTION; COGNITIVE THERAPY; FEASIBILITY STUDIES; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MEMORY; MENTAL HEALTH; MENTAL RECALL; REFUGEES; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC; SWEDEN; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 85013679895     PISSN: 13524658     EISSN: 14691833     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S135246581600062X     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Abbott, A. (2016). The troubled mind of migrants. Nature, 538, 158-160. doi: 0.1038/538158a American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edn). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
2. Andrade, J., Kavanagh, D. J. and Baddeley, A. D. (1997). Eye-movements and visual imagery: A working memory approach to the treatment of post-Traumatic stress disorder. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36, 209-223.
3. Birrer, E., Michael, T. and Munsch, S. (2007). Intrusive images in PTSD and in traumatised and nontraumatised depressed patients: A cross-sectional clinical study Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 2053-2065.
4. Bogic, M., Ajdukovic, D., Bremner, S., Franciskovic, T., Galeazzi, G. M., Kucukalic, A. et al. (2012). Factors associated with mental disorders in long-settled war refugees: Refugees from the former Yugoslavia in Germany, Italy and the UK. British Journal of Psychiatry, 200, 216-223. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.084764
5. Bryant, R. A., Kenny, L., Joscelyne, A., Rawson, N., Maccallum, F., Cahill, C. et al. (2014). Treating prolonged grief disorder: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 71, 1332-1339. Epub 2014/1310/1323
6. Bryant, R. A., ODonnell, M. L., Creamer, M., McFarlane, A. C. and Silove, D. (2011). Posttraumatic intrusive symptoms across psychiatric disorders. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45, 842-847. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.11.012
7. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2016). The world factbook-communications Syria. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html (accessed 2 June 2016).
8. Daniel, M. and Zurawan, A. (2010). Summary of the Survey of New Refugees December 2005-March 2009. Research Report 35. Home Office.
9. Elhai, J. D., Gray, M. J., Kashdan, T. B. and 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, 541-545.
10. Engelhard, I. M., van den Hout, M. A. and Smeets, M. A. M. (2011). Taxing working memory reduces vividness and emotional intensity of images about the Queens Day tragedy. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42, 32-37. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.09.004
11. Fairburn, C. G., Cooper, Z. and Shafran, R. (2003). Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: A transdiagnostic theory and treatment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 509-528. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00088-8
12. Grey, N. and Holmes, E. A. (2008). Hotspots in trauma memories in the treatment of post-Traumatic stress disorder: A replication. Memory, 16, 788-796. doi: 10.1080/09658210802266446
13. Grey, N., Young, K. and Holmes, E. A. (2002). Cognitive restructuring within reliving: A treatment for peritraumatic emotional hotspots in posttraumatic stress disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 30, 37-56. doi: doi.org/10.1017/S1352465802001054
14. Hassan, G., Kirmayer, L. J., Mekki-Berrada, A., Quosh, C., el Chammay, R., Deville-Stoetzel, J. B. et al. (2015). Culture, Context and the Mental Health and PsychosocialWellbeing of Syrians: A Review for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support staff working with Syrians Affected by Armed Conflict. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
15. Hollander, A. C., Dal, H., Lewis, G., Magnusson, C., Kirkbridge, J. B. and Dalman, C. (2016). Refugee migration and risk of schizophrenia and other non-Affective psychoses: cohort study of 1.3 million people in Sweden. British Medical Journal, 352, i1030. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i1030
16. Holmes, E. A., Craske, M. G. and Graybiel, A. M. (2014). Psychological treatments: A call for mental-health science. Clinicians and neuroscientists must work together to understand and improve psychological treatments [Comment]. Nature, 511, 287-289. doi: 10.1038/511287a
17. Holmes, E. A., James, E. L., Coode-Bate, T. and Deeprose, C. (2009). Can playing the computer game Tetris reduce the build-up of flashbacks for trauma? A proposal from cognitive science. PLoS ONE, 4, e4153. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004153
18. Holmes, E. A., James, E. L., Kilford, E. J. and Deeprose, C. (2010). Key steps in developing a cognitive vaccine against traumatic flashbacks: visuospatial Tetris versus verbal Pub Quiz. PLoS ONE, 5, e13706. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013706
19. Horsch, A. and Holmes, E. A. (2016). Prevention of intrusive memories and posttraumatic stress symptoms after emergency cesarean section. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02502513; availabe at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT02502513.
20. Iyadurai, L. and Holmes, E. A. (2015). A Simple Cognitive Task to Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks After a Road Traffic Accident (SCARTA). ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02080351; available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02080351.
21. James, E. L., Bonsall, M. B., Hoppitt, L., Tunbridge, E. M., Geddes, J. R., Milton, A. L. and Holmes, E. A. (2015). Computer game play reduces intrusive memories of experimental trauma via reconsolidation update mechanisms. Psychological Science, 26, 1201-2015. doi: 10.1177/0956797615583071
22. Julious, S. A. (2005). Sample size of 12 per group rule of thumb for a pilot study. Pharmaceutical Statistics, 4, 287-291. doi: 10.1002/pst.185
23. Kazdin, A. E. and Blase, S. L. (2011). Rebooting psychotherapy research and practice to reduce the burden of mental illness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 21-37. doi: 10.1177/1745691610393527
24. Kazdin, A. E. and Rabbitt, S. M. (2013). Novel models for delivering mental health services and reducing the burdens of mental illness. Clinical Psychological Science, 1, 170-191. doi: 10.1177/2167702612463566
25. Malik, A., Goodwin, G. M., Hoppitt, L. and Holmes, E. A. (2014). Hypomanic experience in young adults confers vulnerability to intrusive imagery after experimental trauma: relevance for bipolar disorder. Clinical Psychological Science, 2, 675-684. doi: 10.1177/2167702614527433
26. Mohr, D. C., Schueller, S. M., Araya, R., Gureje, O. and Montague, E. (2014). Mental health technologies and the needs of cultural groups. Lancet Psychiatry, 1, 326-327. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70261-5
27. Morrison, A. P. (2004). The use of imagery in cognitive therapy for psychosis: A case example. Memory, 12, 517-524.
28. Muñoz, R. F., Bunge, E. L., Chen, K., Schueller, S. M., Bravin, J. I., Shaughnessy, E. A. and Pérez-Stable, E. J. (2015). Massive open online interventions: A novel model for delivering behavioral-health services worldwide. Clinical Psychological Science (Epub ahead of print). doi: 10.1177/2167702615583840
29. Nader, K. and Einarsson, E. O. (2010). Memory reconsolidation: An update. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1191, 27-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05443.x
30. Nature Editorial (2016). Healing traumatized minds. Nature, 538, 139. doi: 10.1038/538139a
31. Nickerson, A., Bryant, R. A., Silove, D. and Steel, Z. (2011). A critical review of psychological treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 399-417. doi: doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.10.004
32. Patel, V., Chowdhary, N., Rahman, A. and Verdeli, H. (2011). Improving access to psychological treatments: lessons from developing countries. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 523-528. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2011.06.012
33. Pearson, J., Naselaris, T., Holmes, E. A. and Kosslyn, S. M. (2015). Mental imagery: functional mechanisms and clinical applications. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 590-602. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.08.003
34. The Swedish Migration Agency [Migrationsverket] 2015 Statistics: The Migration Agency statistics show how many people have applied for and received residence permits in Sweden. Solna, Sweden.
35. Ullmann, E., Barthel, A., Taché, S., Bornstein, A., Licinio, J. and Bornstein, S. R. (2015). Emotional and psychological trauma in refugees arriving in Germany in 2015. Molecular Psychiatry, 20, 1483-1484. doi: 10.1038/mp.2015.164
36. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2015). Mid-Year Trends 2015: Geneva: UNHCR.
37. Williams, A. D. and Moulds, M. L. (2008). Negative appraisals and cognitive avoidance of intrusive memories in depression: A replication and extension. Depression and Anxiety, 25, 26-33.