KP01 – Responding to Trauma: From Bench to Bedside in Treating Individuals with PTSD

KP01 – Responding to Trauma: From Bench to Bedside in Treating Individuals with PTSD

Le jeudi 27 octobre
09:00 – 10:30 (1.5 hrs)
Salle de réunion :  Grand Ballroom (Lower Concourse)
Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Rachel Kronick, MD, MSc, FRCPC

Rôles CanMEDS :

  1. Érudit
  2. Professionnel
  3. Promoteur de la santé

À la conclusion de cette activité, les participants seront en mesure de : 1) Describe the functions of the major intrinsic brain networks and their relationship to trauma-related symptomatology and the implications of dysfunction of these networks for the treatment of trauma-related disorders; 2) Conceptualize the interaction between pre-migratory trauma and post-migratory stressors as determinants of mental health difficulties in refugee, asylum seeker and other vulnerabilized migrant populations; and 3) Consider the advantages of an ecosocial approach that integrates individual care and structural advocacy to address systemic inequities.

This plenary will focus on two separate areas in the field of trauma. The first part of this plenary will focus on how neuroimaging can provide insight into the neuropathology of PTSD and how that can guide treatment. The second part will focus on using an ecosocial perspective to provide more effective treatment and promote resilience in refugees and migrant populations.

Three intrinsic brain networks, namely the central executive, salience, and default mode networks, have been demonstrated to be critical to higher cognitive functioning, and aberrations in these networks has been shown to be linked to psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objectives of this part of the plenary are: 1) to describe the three main large-scale networks of the human brain; 2) to discuss the functioning of these neural networks in PTSD; and 3) to offer hypotheses for neuroscientifically-informed interventions aimed at targeting specific PTSD and related symptoms. 

Refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerabilized migrants face multiple stressors on arrival in Canada that can impact their mental health. Responding to trauma-related psychopathology in this population entails the recognition of migrants’ experiences of both personal and social suffering prior to migration and during the process of resettlement. The presentation will explore how clinicians may approach issues of structural violence and trauma through lenses of cultural humility and structural competence to provide trauma-informed care for migrants that mitigates mental health difficulties and promotes resilience and healing.

Références :

  1. Lloyd CS, Nicholson AA, Densmore M, et al. Shame on the brain: neural correlates of moral injury event recall in posttraumatic stress disorder. Depress Anxiety 2021;38(6):596-605.
  2. Kronick R. Mental health of refugees and asylum seekers: assessment and intervention.  Can J Psychiatry 2018;63(5):290-296. doi:10.1177/0706743717746665.