Workshop “Psychological trauma and support”

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kim - Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities spoke at the conference/Photo: Thanh Long

With the theme “Psychological trauma and support”, the workshop aims to help scientists and practitioners exchange new knowledge, share experiences, and research results on new and effective support and intervention tools to reduce pain for patients and improve quality of life.

Reports show that psychological trauma is very common today and has become a challenging issue for every country and nation. According to the WHO/2015 Report (World Health Organization), the number of people showing signs of mental health problems in the world today is about 350 million, of which, the number of people accessing support and intervention is only about 10%. Psychological trauma has left extremely serious consequences not only for the individual patient but also for the family and society. Nearly 60 reports from scientists from more than 10 countries around the world have addressed this issue from many rich and diverse approaches, reflecting the scale and complexity of the problem.

Subcommittee 1 of the workshop focused on the content of "Psychological trauma in children, adolescents and adults" with two topics.

Topic 1 is “Psychological trauma in children and adolescents” - this is the topic that most scientists are interested in. Most of the scientific reports in this topic pay attention to the psychological and physiological characteristics of this group of subjects. Some reports are about assessing the current state of psychological damage caused by psychological trauma. Others are studying the construction of scales and standardization of scales for the level of psychological trauma suitable for the cultural and social context of each country and ethnicity or how to use projection tests in assessing psychological trauma in children. Researchers in this topic all affirm that; psychological trauma in children and adolescents is a fairly common phenomenon in contemporary society. If not supported and intervened in a timely manner, it will negatively affect the personality development and quality of life of children.

In topic 2 on “Psychological trauma in adults”, some reports delve into psychological trauma in women during the pre- and post-natal period, clarify the causes of the internal psychological mechanisms of this type of trauma and propose some highly practical intervention and prevention measures. Some others have approached psychological trauma from a practical perspective such as: psychological trauma of women who suffer from domestic violence. Some others have addressed hot issues in the context of current climate change such as: psychological trauma and coping strategies of people in areas affected by storms and floods, the threat of dam breakage of hydroelectric plants and psychological trauma in war situations, humanitarian crises and other natural disasters.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Chairman of the Science and Training Council, University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Subcommittee 2 on “Psychological trauma in workers and vulnerable groups”, including two topics: “Psychological trauma in workers” and “Psychological trauma in vulnerable groups”.

With topic 1: "Psychological trauma in workers", some articles have approached psychological trauma at the theoretical level, developing models and concepts of psychological trauma in occupational socialization; studying stress associated with the working environment and coping and intervention strategies for workers in some types of work and occupations of special interest such as: preschool teachers, workers in joint ventures, work as telephone operators in Customer Care Centers...

In topic 2 on “Psychological trauma in vulnerable groups”, the reports emphasized the psychological and physiological characteristics along with the very special living environment of this group. They are people who are susceptible to trauma and psychological damage, so research, intervention and support for them are of special significance. Some vulnerable groups are of special interest to the authors such as: victims of Agent Orange, victims of traffic accidents, victims of human trafficking. Some articles have approached psychological trauma in vulnerable groups from a practical perspective such as: stress in patients with peptic ulcers, alcoholics and the elderly. Some articles approach the issue from a mental health perspective such as: psychological trauma in inpatients at mental health institutions; psychological trauma of individuals, families and communities due to the impact of natural disasters; the current situation of care and support for victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam...