Trauma, Dissociation and Health: Casual Mechanisms and Multidimensional Pathways

This book explores the impact of trauma and dissociation on physical health throughout the lifespan. Important chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and chronic pain, are examined. In addition, trauma in childbearing women is considering, specifically examining the short- and long-term effects of the birth experience itself. Dissociation’s effect on long-term health is also described, and how it might manifest in patients in health care settings.
This book was based on a special issue of Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Amarillo, Texas, and Acquisitions Editor for Hale Publishing. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in both the Divisions of Health and Trauma Psychology, and is Associate Editor of the journal Psychological Trauma. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is author of more than 200 journal articles, book chapters and other publications, and author or editor of 17 books in the fields of trauma, women’s health, depression, and breastfeeding, including Depression in New Mothers (2005), and Non-Pharmacologic Treatments for Depression in New Mothers (2008, Hale Publishing). She is a founding member of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Trauma Psychology, and currently serves as Division Secretary.
Bridget Klest is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon, and is completing her predoctoral psychology internship through the University of California San Diego and the San Diego VA Healthcare System. Her research explores the impact of social and interpersonal context on trauma exposure and the development of posttraumatic physical and mental health symptoms. She is currently examining the relations among gender, ethnicity, and access to socio-economic resources as they relate to trauma exposure and posttraumatic symptoms in a Hawaiian cohort.

1. Introduction: Causal Mechanisms and Multidirectional Pathways Between Trauma, Dissociation, and Health Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Bridget Klest 2. Posttraumatic Stress and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Jeffrey L. Kibler 3. Intergenerational Pathways Linking Childhood Sexual Abuse to HIV Risk Among Women Courtenay E. Cavanaugh and Catherine C. Classen 4. A Review of Childhood Abuse, Health, and Pain-Related Problems: The Role of Psychiatric Disorders and Current Life Stress Natalie Sachs-Ericsson, Kiara Cromer, Annya Hernandez and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett 5. Birth Trauma and Its Sequelae Cheryl Tatano Beck 6. “That Part of the Body is Just Gone”: Understanding and Responding to Dissociation and Physical Health Terri J. Haven