Editorial: Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of Human Rights Abuse

A thorough needs assessment is crucial to avoid the trap of focusing on the needs which are obvious to the assessing clinician(s) but may be of relatively minor importance to the traumatized individual. Such an approach itself has the potential to decrease the sense of helplessness and lack of self-worth that is a core feature of “complex PTSD” and provides a pathway to enabling traumatized individuals to play an active role in their treatment and rehabilitation. The work of Hecker et al. provides a good example of this in their description of the “appetitive aggression” that is often a key disabling feature in the presentation of former combatants and, if not addressed directly, provides a major barrier to their social reintegration.