APA Guidelines for Working with Adults with Complex Trauma Histories
Learn about the new set of guidelines approved by the APA Council of Representatives at the APA 2024 convention in Seattle, August 2024.
APA’s clinical and professional practice guidelines are science-backed tools that showcase the latest clinical and practice knowledge for clinicians.
Developed by Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD)
OUR LEADERSHIP FOR 2025
Jessica Punzo, Psy.D.
President
Dr. Jessica Punzo is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Illinois and also an active member of PSYPACT. She completed her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Traumatic Stress at Adler University.
Janna Henning, Psy.D.
President-Elect
Dr. Janna Henning has been providing mental health services for adults with complex trauma, PTSD, dissociative disorders, chronic/life-threatening illness, and grief/loss-related concerns for over 20 years.
Carlos Cuevas, Ph.D.
Past President
Dr. Carlos A. Cuevas is a Professor and Co-Director of the Violence and Justice Research Laboratory at Northeastern University in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Trauma Psychology News
Cascading Climate Hazards and Environmental Justice
Cascading Climate Hazards and Environmental Justice In Communities on the Fenceline of Polluting Industries Alique Berberian, MPH, MIA Section Editor: Claire J. Starrs Climate change, driven largely by human activities like fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, is having widespread and unprecedented impacts on physical environments and populations in many regions across the world…
Who’s Who: Meet Dr. Carolee GiaoUyen Tran
Who’s Who: Special Feature Special Feature for the 50 Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon It’s important to humanize the face of not only the Vietnam War but all wars so we can bear witness to the horror, suffering, destructiveness, and displacement that accompany them… I truly believe that at the end of the day,…
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…
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…
Summer 2025: Member Open Submissions
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…