Ethnotraumatology: Understanding Trauma in Black, Indigenous, and Diverse Ethnic Communities

Ethnotraumatology: Understanding Trauma in Black, Indigenous, & Diverse Ethnic Communities Educating Psychologists Beyond A Western Framework Lisseth London, PhD Karen Brown, PhD PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA Psychological trauma, as defined by the American Psychological Association, refers to the emotional response to an event or series of events that overwhelms an individual’s capacity to cope. The clinical definitions…

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Summer 2025 President’s Column

President’s Column | Summer 2025 Jessica Punzo, PsyD Happy Summer Everyone, I hope you all are taking time to get some sunshine and warm air, amidst all the business that comes with summer schedules. I am excited to share some of the things we have been working on behind the scenes here. The first thing…

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Training Sites

Division 56’s Education and Training Committee has compiled a list of graduate academic programs that currently offer training in trauma or have faculty who specialize in trauma. If you know of additional programs or faculty that should be included, please contact the Chair of the Committee to have them added to the list.  We would like to…

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Summer 2025: Member Open Submissions

Collage

Sil Machado, PhD Being Diminished in the Eyes of the Other Collage The encounter with homophobic attitudes and behaviors is a significant, often traumatic stressor in the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. This collage, which is part of an arts-based interpretive phenomenological inquiry into the experience of homophobia, represents the theme of being diminished in the…

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Trauma Wears a Hall Pass: Corporal Punishment in our Schools

Trauma Wears A Hall Pass: Corporal Punishment In Our Schools Kristina Schoenthaler Section Editor: Kiara Tookes-Williams Peer Reviewers: Molly Becker, Olivia Jackson, Jasmine Merlette, Zaine Roberts Advisor: Antonella Bariani When working with children in the welfare system, I often ask a simple but powerful question: “If you had a magic wand that could fix all…

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Book Review: Black Men and Racial Trauma: Impacts, Disparities, and Interventions

Review by: Nancy Maguire Section Editors: Serena Wadhwa & Omewha Beaton Yamonte Cooper, (New York, NY: Routledge), 2024, 314 Pages, ISBN 978-1032554105 (hardback), 978-1032554112 (paperback) Dr. Yamonte Cooper’s work, Black Men and Racial Trauma: Impacts, Disparities and Interventions, is seminal. He begins by articulating the meaning of anti-Blackness, simply and clearly stated as “racism based…

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Task Force Report on Psychologists’ Role in Interrogation

Task Force Report on Psychologists’ Role in Interrogation Division 56 has been concerned about the question of psychologists’ role in interrogations since it was founded in 2006. The first division President, Judie Alpert, charged member, Nnamdi Pole to Chair a task force to “examine psychologist’s role in interrogation from the perspective of trauma” and report…

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Book Review: Blackbird: A Novel

By Carol Carson2023Hound Press. ISBN: 979-8-9869933-0-0 At the outset, let me say unequivocally that Blackbird is a page turner. It is the riveting story of a child, Jane, who endures horrendous abuse. It is categorized as fiction, although Carole Carson acknowledges in her Author’s Note it is about her life — with liberties taken for…

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Fellows Section: CALL FOR FELLOWS

Fellows Committee Chair:Charles Figley, PhDfigley@tulane.edu Fellow status in APA is given to those who have made unusual and outstanding contributions to the field of trauma psychology. Their distinguished contributions are the foundation on which the future of trauma psychology builds. Fellows make on-going contributions to science, practice, and public policy through activities in this Division…

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Emerging Career Professionals: Early Career Representative Column

Maria Valgoi Early career can be a very stressful and confusing time. It’s a time when one defines themselves professionally, takes risks, and innovates. It’s also a time when professionals are making huge life decisions such as committing to a partner, having children, and buying a home. After talking with ECPs in the division, I…

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