Amira Oudeh Major Research Project: CPTSD in Bethlehem & Glasgow v0.5
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Autobiographical Memory in Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Cultural Study Between Glasgow and Bethlehem.
IRAS ID
301000
Contact name
Hamish McLeod
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS GG&C
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) affects how people see themselves, their experience of emotions and memory functioning. The ability to remember personal events (called Autobiographical Memory or AM) commonly becomes disrupted when someone has experienced trauma but we know very little about the timescales involved in the development of these disruptions. Also, because most CPTSD research is conducted on people from high income countries the generalisation of patterns across cultures is not well understood. For example, young people in low and middle income countries who experience military trauma do not show the same symptom patterns seen in trauma exposed children in the West, and we also have very little data on whether their AM abilities are affected differently. In countries such as Palestine it may be that the type and severity of a traumatic event exposure will influence how CPTSD symptoms present and, consequently, how the mental health of children and adolescents are affected. Understanding any differences in these patterns may have implications for how treatment is delivered to people suffering with CPTSD.
This study aims to address the following:
1) How do CPTSD symptom patterns compare in children and adolescents between Glasgow and Bethlehem?
2) What is the relationship between trauma exposure (type and dose) and symptom patterns?
3) Do disturbances of AM function in trauma exposed young people show the same pattern as those seen in adults?
Participants will be aged 8-17 years. The Glasgow sample will be recruited from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (GGC) Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). The Palestinian sample will be collected separately, as part of a wider project.
Participants will complete five questionnaires which assess CPTSD symptoms and traumatic experiences. A second phase will involve an interview and flashcards with positive and negative words on them where participants will be asked to recall a personal memory associated with them.Summary of Results
The persistent war and conflict seen in countries like Palestine can be the result of many problems such as political violence, racial tensions, or settler colonialism. Children and adolescents who live in areas affected by war and conflict are at risk of exposure to multiple and prolonged traumatic events. Research conducted outside of conflict zones show that such experiences can be linked to multifaceted mental health difficulties, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). Difficulties can include problems with how people see themselves, their emotions, and the ability to remember personal events (Autobiographical Memory (AM). Many people who have experienced trauma start to recall memories about their life in less specific detail – possibly as a way of coping with intrusive event recall or due to fragmented memory formation. What is less clear is whether these changes in mental functioning are different depending on the type of trauma. For example, traumatic experiences for people in the UK commonly interpersonal events (e.g. assault). In contrast , people in countries like Palestine experience interpersonal trauma but also additional problems arising from military and political conflict. It is still to be determined whether Palestinian children present the same trauma-related symptoms that children in the West do, and whether any changes to AM functioning may differ between these two populations. Improved understanding of how the type and severity of a traumatic event can influence the profile of PTSD and CPTSD symptoms may be used to alter the treatment offered to people suffering with CPTSD.
This study aimed to understand how PTSD and CPTSD symptoms present in children and adolescents living in Bethlehem and Glasgow. We wanted to also describe and compare profiles of AM in this population.
Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, recruitment for the Glasgow cohort were significantly below the level needed to achieve the aim of comparing memory profiles in young people from Glasgow versus Bethlehem. Therefore, the final project report focused on data collected from the Bethlehem cohort. The results showed that children and adolescents had symptoms typical of people who are diagnosed with PTSD and CPTSD. Some preliminary conclusions that can be drawn from this small sample is that memory specificity may be lower when children are asked to recall memories in response to negative cue words and they may also avoid allocating attention to searching their memory for more details. Because of the small sample sizes these findings need to be investigated further with a larger group of participants. The more we understand about trauma in children and adolescents, the more we can develop and improve treatment options for them. A full report of this research is available on University of Glasgow Enlighten Theses website.REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
21/WA/0390
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jan 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion