The Trauma Recovery and Resiliency Research Project

The focus of the Trauma Recovery and Resiliency Project is primarily the evaluation of treatment outcome among complexly traumatized patients seeking individual and/or group therapy at the Victims of Violence (VOV) Program, a specialty clinic located in the Outpatient Psychiatry Department of the Cambridge Health Alliance and affiliated with Harvard Medical School. The project has two major components: (1) All patients seeking VOV treatment are administered a battery of self-report measures assessing symptoms associated with complex trauma (i.e., interpersonal trauma that is usually repeated and prolonged) (2) A subsample of patients are interviewed using the Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resiliency Interview (MTRRI) and its companion rating scale (MTRR; Harvey et al, 1994, 2000, 2003) to assess trauma impact, recovery and resiliency on eight domains of psychological functioning. Data is analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate treatment effectiveness and elucidate the recovery trajectories of patients receiving VOV treatment. Two subprojects include (a) preparation of a treatment manual documenting the Women's Trauma Recovery Group, and (b) pilot testing a new interview-based measure of complex trauma symptoms, the Symptoms of Trauma Scale (SOTS).