Back to All Events

Healing Contexts from the Twin Traumatic Stresses of War and the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Dr. David Bullard david@drbullard.com San Francisco, CA (map)

Part of the 37th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: “Trauma in Context: Moving Beyond the Individual”

Much of the world's most vulnerable populations are facing both immense human suffering as a result of war and dislocation, and as the result of the global pandemic. In this panel, we will present new research findings from the presenters addressing: 1) the prevalence of traumatology in Syrian children and RCT findings regarding the positive impact of expressive arts therapies; 2) the prevalence of traumatology in Syrian women refugees in Jordan, and data about the positive impact of social support from peers (even beyond that of spouses); 3) the impact of secondary/vicarious trauma on helpers such as healthcare providers dealing with patients traumatized by war and by COVID-19, with results of a brief, scalable low-intensity group intervention for COVID-19 related stress in healthcare providers (Manfield, et al., 2021. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, Vol 15 No 2); 4) and research on increases in health care providers' compassion and effectiveness with patients with trauma-informed health care education. Discussion will highlight similarities in both trauma and healing contexts in war and the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for future research and practice.

Presenters:

  • David G. Bullard, PhD – Volunteer Clinical Professor; Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco​

  • Khalid Kheirallah, PhD – Medical School of Jordan University of Science and Technology​

  • Sara Al-Zureikat, MD, MPH – Medical School of Jordan University of Science and Technology​

  • Edward Machtinger, MD - Professor of Medicine, Director of the Women’s HIV Program (WHP), and Director of the Center to Advance Trauma-informed Health Care (CTHC), University of California, San Francisco​

Learning objectives:

  • Describe two creative art therapies that lessened PTSD in Syrian children refugees living in Jordan

  • Describe the most powerful social relationship that helped mitigate suffering among Syrian women refugees living in Jordan who had been traumatized by war

  • Describe a commonality among health care providers working with both refugees traumatized by war and COVID-19 patients