More information on the lectures and Gabriela Marcu can be found underneath.
Complex Trauma in Adolescents:
Defined by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network - USA (2007) as “children’s exposure to multiple traumatic events, usually of an invasive, interpersonal nature, and the wide-ranging, long-term impact of this exposure”, complex trauma is a relatively new clinical construct that considers traumatic experiences and posttraumatic adaptations to be elements of a singular phenomenon.
Adolescents previously exposed to complex childhood trauma often use alternative survival strategies, (dissociation, avoidance of affectively laden situations or substance use) and have challenges eliciting and responding to social support (Cook et al., 2005) which can lead to severe lifelong consequences (Bick & Nelson, 2016).
The two lectures will capture definition and diagnostic implications as well as associated symptomatology in adolescents with multiple traumatic experiences:
- Definition
- Diagnostic (integration of exposure and outcomes) and assessment
- Domains of impairment– special case of adolescents from institutional homes
- Impact on neurodevelopment – is there a “complex trauma fingerprint?”
- Cases presentation
- Approaches to treatment – EEG-neurofeedback: rationale, mechanisms, and efficacy in complex trauma
References:
Bick, J., & Nelson, C. A. (2016). Early adverse experiences and the developing brain. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(1), 177–196.
https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.252Cook, A., Spinazzola, J., Ford, J., Lanktree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., DeRosa, R., Hubbard, R., Kagan, R., Liautaud, J., Mallah, K., Olafson, E., & van der Kolk, B. (2005). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 390–398.
https://doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20050501-05 About the lecturer:
Gabriela-Mariana Marcu is a clinical psychologist and a PhD lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Department of Psychology, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. She worked for six years as a psychotherapist for addicted women and youth, leading the first rehabilitation center in Romania, opened by the International Blue Cross (1998-2003). She is an EEG-Neurofeedback training therapist and specializes in the Acquisition, processing, and analysis of EEG signal and Advanced Brain Based Assessment Methods using Quantitative EEG and Event-Related Potentials. She has a wide interest in interdisciplinary research, studying topics like complex trauma, prosocial behavior, human decision making, functional neuromarkers for psychopathology and clinical neuroscience.