Skip to main content
ABCT 2024 58th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Back
ViewAttendees 7

Symposia

Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders and Disasters

Breaking Barriers, Bridging Gaps: Addressing Issues with Understanding, Treating, and Accessing Care for PTSD

1 - (SYM 12) Are We Gatekeeping Trauma? A Conceptual Model to Expand Criterion a for Invisible, Identity-based, and Systemic Traumas

Friday, November 15, 2024
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Location: Regency Ballroom B, Second Floor Mezzanine, Loews Hotel
Abstract Body
Since the inception of the criterion A framework into the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis in DSM-III, there has been fieldwide debate on what qualifies as a traumatic event. Historically, sociopolitical events coinciding with advances in research have spurred improvements in the definition of criterion A, namely by increasing the breadth of trauma exposure. Contemporary issues of ongoing race-based traumas, ethno-violence, public health pandemics, warfare, and climate change warrant a re-examination of the criterion A definition by the field. This critical review builds on prior critiques of criterion A and examines (1) the limitations to the current criterion A definition in DSM-5, particularly in capturing the experience of minoritized individuals; (2) three categories of trauma exposure less recognized in the current criterion A definition; (3) and the implications of expanding criterion A on clinical and research practice. A narrative review on the research evidence for the following three trauma categories are examined: invisible traumas (i.e., psychological violence, adverse or violent media exposure, moral injury, and some adverse childhood experiences), identity-based traumas (i.e., race-based trauma, gender-based trauma, xenophobia), and systemic traumas (i.e., unjust incarceration, intergenerational trauma, and poverty). Each category is examined in relation to the body of evidence supporting inclusion or lack of inclusion in criterion A. Evidence to date suggests several experiences of trauma should be included in an expanded definition of criterion A and highlights a need to examine the continuum of stress to trauma exposure in the PTSD diagnostic framework. In addition, the inclusion of symptomatic subtypes to the PTSD diagnosis are considered, particularly for race-based traumatic stress symptoms. Overall, this review aims to capture the lived experiences of minoritized individuals suffering from trauma exposure who, to date, remain under-recognized in our current psychiatric nosology.