Hello Maysa,

The Hebrew University has done extensive research on trauma & the aftereffects. Have you tried Google Scholar? It seems to be a different search engine from Google Search & may provide you w/the material for which you are searching. Additionally, there are a number of researchers on RG that focus their studies on trauma. They may have studied this phenomenon & have answers.

Wish I could be of more help.

I do know that change frequently causes a person to revert back to old behaviors that are not necessarily functional. People who have experienced a trauma are often particularly fragile w/few coping skills, if any, left as a result of the trauma. Putting the two together, it stands to reason that " ...after leaving the environment in which trauma was inflicted/developed, there will be a dip in the survivor's function..." a secondary result of the combined change & PTSD.

Denise A.K. Goins

I am not familiar with this phenomenon, but that certainly doesn't mean it is not the case. It is a bit counter intuitive, in that many of the symptoms of PTSD have to do with triggers or the response thereof. Certainly avoidance, but also hyperarousal in the face of even a reminder of part of the trauma, for example. My other concern is that there is, or used to be, the concept of state-dependent memory, such that when an individual returns to the trauma, either to the physical site, the type of environment, or the perpetrator (again, for example), it is more likely to (intensely) elicit the traumatic memory and set off a traumatic response.

I'm sorry I couldn't answer your question more directly, but thought these things might also be worth considering. Good luck.

TND

Dear Maysa Kabbout , I think you need to start with Cathy Caruth's writings on trauma and PTSD which may help you formulate your argument. Her main works are listed here: Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History( 1996), Literature in the Ashes of History (2013) and Listening to Trauma: Conversations with Leaders in the Theory and Treatment of Catastrophic Experience (2014).

Denise A.K. Goins Thomas N. Dikel Hasan Mohammed Saleh I appreciate your contributions to my query however I feel my question has been misunderstood. I'm aware of the aftereffects of trauma and the symptoms that come with PTSD, but what I'm curious about is what happens after a child who was abused by their parents moves out. I've heard that once leaving the environment, the constant "fight or flight" response in their hormones dips for a while. I haven't been able to find much information beyond simply "their executive function nosedives" which is what I am trying to find more research on.

Hi Maysa,

I apologize. I did not understand what you were looking for in terms of PTSD research. This is a rather back door to someone who may be able to answer your question. PESI, P.O. Box 1000, Eau Claire, WI 54702-1000, USA   •   Phone: (800) 844-8260   •   Fax: (800) 554-9775   •   Email: [email protected]. PESI provides CEU seminars all over the U.S. One of their faculty has a practice devoted to treating PTSD & therefore, might be able to answer your question. His name is Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. I suggest you write, call, or email PESI w/a request for Dr van der Kolk to contact you & see if he can offer you the information for which you are looking.

Good luck!

Denise A.K. Goins

With the caveat that this sort of generalization as opposed to individual differences can be dangerous, once I read your clarification: "I appreciate your..." I better understood your question and have a suggestion that I think may be very useful. Bruce Perry, who I met when he was at Baylor where he worked with the Waco kids, but I think he's on the East Coast now, in spite of an occasionally flashy personality, can be quite brilliant. I strongly suggest you take a look at (buy?) his book, "The boy who was raised as a dog and other stories from a child psychiatrist's notebook" written by Bruce Perry MD PhD and Maia Szalavitz. In the book he talks specifically about children who come from chaos and unpredictable violence and insanity and are moved to "safe" environments, and then blow up, confusing the heck out of the foster parents (for example) who may be wonderful people with a physically and emotionally safe home. I hope you can find what you need in this book - more importantly, he talks about treatment methodology for the truly (most) severe, egregious cases of child maltreatment we sometimes see. Good luck!