Current and Completed Research
CURRENT PROJECTS:
Webinar Series on Polyvictimization and Complex Trauma: Earn CE's for Free!
Neurofeedback Study
The Trauma Center is committed to exploring the capacity of neurofeedback to help traumatized individuals. The Trauma Center recently received a three-year grant from the ANS Foundation in London, UK, to study and document the effectiveness of NFB for traumatized children and adults. Our center is currently involved in a pilot study to investigate the ways NFB can address problems experienced by adults impacted by trauma and is in the process of recruiting traumatized adults to participate in a study to examine the effectiveness of NFB. Participants will complete in-depth baseline, weekly, and monthly measurement of their overall level of functioning, and receive weekly NFB administered by the Center's trained NFB practitioners.
Adults who wish to participate in the study should contact Regina Musicaro at (617) 232-1303, x310. Please note that our grant funding does not cover participant treatment; neurofeedback treatment at the Trauma Center is available on a self-pay basis only.
COMPLETED PROJECTS:
Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) Field Trial Diagnosis Study
The Developmental Diagnosis Study is a critically important study that is being conducted to improve and expand trauma-related diagnoses for children. There are seven Field Trial sites across the country including our site in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. Each site will interview at least 100 children and guardians. Participation in this study is an opportunity to transform the field and to develop appropriate diagnoses and treatment models for children who have experienced trauma.
Yoga as a Complementary Treatment for Chronic PTSD
This randomized controlled study found a short-term yoga program was associated with reduced trauma symptoms in women with PTSD. Traditional trauma therapies have faced challenges in the treatment of childhood onset chronic trauma and its associated symptoms of affect dysregulation, heightened physiological states, somatic problems, dissociation and avoidance. Body-based work, such as yoga, may act as a treatment bridge, increasing a sense of awareness, safety and mastery over one's body while building skills to effectively interpret and tolerate physiological and affective states. Yoga, one of the top ten most widely practiced forms of complementary alternative medicine in the United States, incorporates techniques of breathing exercises, physical postures, movement, relaxation and mindfulness.
Improvisational Theater-Based Youth Violence Prevention
As a funded member of the Hamilton Fish Institute's Youth Violence Prevention Consortium and with support from the Roy A. Hunt Foundation and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, we have evaluated and developed programs for the past five years that utilize structured improvisational theater to teach violence prevention and conflict resolution to Boston public school students. In collaboration with Urban Improv, we have developed Trauma Drama, an intervention for violence-exposed middle school students, as well as a teacher-led companion curriculum to Urban Improv for elementary school students.
Attachment, Self-Regulation, & Competency (ARC)
Recognized by the NCTSN as a promising practice, ARC is a comprehensive framework for intervention with youth exposed to complex trauma. Intervention is tailored to each client's needs and may include individual and group therapy for children, education for caregivers, parent-child sessions, and parent workshops.
