Establishing the common ground in European psychotraumatology

Europe is nicely complex; that is, rich and full of diversity. Lessons learned from the painful past are immense (Betancourt, 2015) together with a healthy anxiety about the future. One may perceive Europe as the most prosperous, peaceful, and safest part of the world. Yet this rich heritage is also a reflection of a hidden truth: trauma is not only endemic in Europe, but it also lives in the soul of Europeans (Orner, 2013). Two decades after its foundation, the premier organization of European psychotraumatologists, the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) is completing its protracted structural transformation and takes an important step to fulfill its key vision, namely, solidify international collaboration among trauma professionals throughout the whole continent. Synchronization of knowledge and experience among all participants is necessary to achieve these ends, and may itself be a creative process. At the end of this transition from a society built around voluntary individual membership to one of an umbrella organization for regional (mostly national) trauma societies, ESTSS will benefit from tremendous organizational efficiencies as a transnational venue to nurture the common ground in European psychotraumatology. To advance this, ESTSS spreads its knowledge through biannual conferences and the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT).