BackgroundThe representation of low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) in traumatic stress research is important to establish a global evidence base, build research capacity, and reduce the burden of unmet mental health needs around the world. Reviews of the traumatic stress literature up to 2002 showed trends toward globalization although LMIC were only marginally represented compared to high-income countries (HIC).ObjectiveTo examine the global nature of current traumatic stress research. In particular, we were interested in the extent to which traumatic stress research is: (1) conducted in LMIC, (2) conducted by LMIC researchers, and (3) accessible to them.MethodUsing the databases PubMed, PsychInfo, and PILOTS, we systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles on traumatic stress published in any language in the year 2012. Out of the 3,123 unique papers identified, we coded a random sample (N=1,000) for study, author, article, and journal characteristics.ResultsAlthough our sample involved research in 56 different countries, most papers (87%) involved research in HIC, with 51% of all papers describing studies in the United States. In 88% of the papers, the author team was affiliated with HIC only. Less than 5% of all author teams involved collaborations between HIC and LMIC researchers. Moreover, 45% of the articles on LMIC studies published by a HIC corresponding author did not involve any LMIC co-authors. LMIC researchers appeared to publish empirical studies in lower impact journals. Of the 1,000 articles in our sample, 32% were open access and 10% were made available via different means; over half of the papers were not accessible without subscription.ConclusionsTraumatic stress research is increasingly global but still strongly dominated by HIC. Important opportunities to build capacity in LMIC appear to be missed. Implications toward more international traumatic stress research are discussed.

To substantiate psychological symptoms following humidifier disinfectant (HD) disasters, counseling records of 26 victims and 92 family members of victims (45 were bereaved) were analyzed retrospectively. Among the victims, 34.6% had Clinical Global Impression-Severity scores of over 4, which meant they were moderately ill. While anxiety/fear and depression with respiratory symptoms were frequently observed in victims and family members, chronic psychological distress such as alcohol/smoking abuse and insomnia was relatively high in bereaved family members. In conclusion, it is important to provide mental health support for victims and their families, focusing on the characteristic symptoms of each group as well as monetary compensation.

Objective: Embitterment encapsulates reactive emotions such as worthlessness or helplessness after negative life events that contravene one’s basic beliefs. However, no psychological model of the development of persistent embitterment has yet been investigated. We examined mediating factors for reactive embitterment, focusing on cognitive processes, including coping and rumination, among young South Korean adults. Method: A total of 1,000 young adults aged 18–35 answered an online survey questionnaire measuring distress caused by negative life events, coping strategies, rumination, and embitterment. To examine the mediating associations of coping and rumination with embitterment, we tested path analysis models separately. Results: Distress was both directly and indirectly related to embitterment (mediated by maladaptive strategies of dysfunctional coping and intrusive rumination; total association β = .54, p < .001). The estimated indirect association of distress via maladaptive strategy with embitterment was 0.45, accounting for 82.4% of the total association of distress on embitterment. The ratio of indirect association via maladaptive strategy to direct association was 4.64. The results of this study have implications for better clinical understanding and treatment of embitterment. Conclusions: The association between dysfunctional strategies and embitterment severity suggests that clinicians should attenuate potential aggravating factors, including dysfunctional coping and intrusive rumination. Given that a combination of dysfunctional coping approaches increased the risk of reactive embitterment fourfold, these variables can be regarded as important for the development of preventive service programs for people at risk of embitterment.

The present study focused on attitudes related to inhibiting spousal disclosure about stress as an influential factor for the mental health of firefighters. In a pilot study using semi-structured interviews (N = 14), we found that some firefighters usually did not talk about their stresses with their spouses. Some reasons were that they were hiding their weakness, were feeling sure of controlling their stress, out of consideration for their spouse, were giving up on the possibility for improving the situation after spousal disclosure, or hoped to distract themselves. In a subsequent questionnaire survey (N = 554), the results showed that attitudes about inhibiting spousal disclosure of stress have an effect on spousal disclosure about stress and the mental health of firefighters. The findings of the present study imply that spousal disclosure about interpersonal stress can be regarded as an effective factor, along with the disclosure to colleagues, for relieving stress. It is necessary to consider the importance of attitudes about inhibiting disclosure for stress as part of stress management for firefighters.

Fund-raising activities on behalf of victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake during the year after the earthquake were investigated in residents of the South Kanto area (N = 749), which is adjacent to the disaster area. The percentage of people that raised funds was 67.4%. We investigated the effects of the following on fundraising activities: demographic variables (sex, age, and educational background), trait empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, and personal distress), former experience with fund-raising activities, effects of similarity to victims (e.g., experienced inconveniences because of the disaster, or had problems returning home), and psychological closeness to victims (e.g, have family members or acquaintances that suffered from the disaster, or that once lived in the disaster area). The results indicated that fund-raising activities were affected by former experience with fund-raising, similarity to victims, psychological closeness to victims, empathic concern, and being female. The relationship between fund-raising activities for victims and empathy are discussed.