The Global Collaboration On

TRAUMATIC STRESSCONFERENCE 2023
12 - 14 December 2023 | The Vineyard Hotel | Cape Town, South Africa

www.gctscapetown2023.co.za

PROGRAMMEWELCOME
It is truly exciting to be hosting the 1st Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GC-TS) Conference at the Vineyard Hoteland Conference Centre in the vibrant, cosmopolitan, and beautiful African city of Cape Town.
On behalf of the organising committee, I warmly welcome you at a landmark meeting where science will be coupled with very
enjoyable social activity.
This conference will bring together leading researchers and clinicians from around the world to strengthen existing
collaborations and forge new ones on topics of global importance related to traumatic stress. In addition to providing state-ofthe-art presentations on traumatic stress across the life course, the hybrid format conference provides an excellent
opportunity for South African and other African researchers and clinicians working in traumatic stress or related ﬁelds toestablish long-term partnerships with experts and institutions across the globe. From a capacity-building standpoint, theconference is supporting young researchers, including master’s and doctoral students, to learn from and network withinternational experts, share their own expertise, and identify opportunities for professional development with collaboratinggroups. In addition, the GC-TS Steering Committee and the wider community of conference attendees have the opportunity
to develop and shape the strategic plan to guide the next 5 years of activity in this Global Collaboration.
I look forward to hosting you at a historic venue that was, in the year 1800, originally home to the diarist and artist Lady Anne
Barnard and her husband Andrew, colonial secretary to the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, Earl Macartney, and is invery close proximity to famous sites such as Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch Gardens.
Thank you for joining us!
Soraya Seedat
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Soraya Seedat, Miranda Olﬀ, Ueli Schnyder, Stefanie Freel, Georgina Spies, and Jacqueline Womersley

GENERAL INFORMATIONSPEAKERS
Please load your presentation with the technician inside the allocated venue before your presentation. This can be done
early in the morning, or during any tea- or lunch break preceding your presentation.
POSTER PRESENTERS
Please ensure that your poster is displayed in the allocated room (Terrace Room 1) by 10:45 on Tuesday 12 December.
A dedicated poster session will be held from 16:30 to 18:30 in the venue. Please remember to be present at your poster
during this time. Poster Awards will be announced on Wednesday 13 December (at the end of Plenary Session 6).
CPD/CME POINTS
Please remember to scan your name badge once per day for maximum points at the registration desk.
CONGRESS SOCIAL FUNCTIONS:
Tuesday 12 December 2024:
16:30 – 19:30 Welcome cocktail function (open to all Registered Delegates) Venue: Terrace Room 2.
Wednesday 13 December 2024:
19:00 Congress Dinner (Pre-booked Delegates Only) Venue: Moyo, Kirstenbosch.
Please collect your congress dinner ticket from the Congress Organisers at the Londocor desk.
LONDOCOR INFORMATION DESK
Londocor staﬀ members are on-site for any information or assistance. Please contact Elize or Dine via e-mailelize@londocor.co.za / dine@londocor.co.za or Tel: +27 76 979 9379 (Elize) or Tel: +27 82 773 1851 (Dine)
AIRPORT TRANSFERS
Should you wish to book a transfer to the airport, kindly contact Mr Ismail Orrie on: +27 72 936 2271 or e-mail:ismail@africantravelandtours.co.za

PROGRAMMETUESDAY 12 DECEMBER 2023
08:30 - 09:00 Registration, Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

09:00 - 10:15 PLENARY SESSION 1Introduction
Welcome by Chair of the GCTS
Chair: Soraya Seedat
09:15 - 09:45 Gender and PTSD: From Trauma to Treatment
09:45 - 10:15 Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for PTSD: Differences, Commonalities, and Future Directions

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor
Soraya Seedat (SA)
Miranda Olff (The Netherlands)

10:15 - 10:45 Tea/CoffeeFoyer Camphor

PARALLEL SESSIONS 1 & 2
SESSION 1: Assessing Trauma and its Consequences
Chair: Miranda Olff
10:45 - 11:10 Transdiagnostic Screening After Trauma Around the World
11:10 - 11:35 Trauma, Old Age and Dementia
11:35 - 12:00 Validation of Measures for Stress-Related Disorders According to ICD-11 Among Clinical Adult
Populations in Chile: Preliminary Findings
10:45 -12:00

10:45 -12:00

SESSION 2: Young Researchers’ Forum
Chairs: Monique Pfaltz, Jacqueline Womersley, Sarah Valentine
10:45 - 12:00 Discussion on opportunities to get involved in GCTS projects

Miranda Olff (The Netherlands)
Ulrich Schnyder (Switzerland)

Camphor (1,2) - 1st Floor
Miranda Olff (The Netherlands)
Sjacko Sobczak (The Netherlands)
Carolina Salgado (Chile)

Camphor (3) - 1st Floor
Monique Pfaltz (Sweden), Jacqueline
Womersley (SA), Sarah Valentine (USA)

12:00 - 12:15 Stretch Break
12:15 - 13:15 PLENARY SESSION 2
Gender and Context
Chair: Ulrich Schnyder
12:15 - 12:35 Addressing the Impact of Domestic Homicide
12:35 - 12:55 Mothers with a Child Born of Sexual Violence, Navigating Between Complexity and Everyday Life
12:55 - 13:15 Implementing a Trauma-Focused Outpatient Group Program for Adult Survivors of Childhood
Maltreatment and Violence Against Women in a Psychiatric Hospital from Lima, Peru: A ReportCamphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

13:15 - 14:15 Lunch & Networking

Terrace Room 2

14:15 - 16:15 PLENARY SESSION 3
14:15 - 14:45 Report back from Parallel Themed Sessions 1 & 2
Chair: Soraya Seedat
Each rapporteur will provide a summary followed by Q&A
Chair: Monique Pfaltz
14:45 - 15:15 What Prolonged Peritraumatic Distress Teaches Us about PTSD and its Boundaries
15:15 - 15:45 Intergenerational Continuity of Child Maltreatment
15:45 - 16:15 Using AI to Quickly Get a Systematic Overview of the Literature

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

Eva Alisic (Australia)
Elisa van Ee (The Netherlands)
Adrian Arévalo (Peru)

Arieh Shalev (Israel)
Rachel Langevin (Canada)
Rens van de Schoot (The Netherlands)

16:30 - 18:30 POSTER SESSION & WELCOME COCKTAIL FUNCTION (OPEN TO ALL REGISTERED DELEGATES)
Adjudicators: Georgina Spies, Monique Pfaltz, Eva Alisic
16:30 - 18:30 Poster Session

Terrace Room 1

16:30 - 18:30 Welcome Cocktail Function (Open To All Registered Delegates)

Terrace Room 2

19:00

De Grendel Restaurant

Dinner (Invited Speakers and GCTS Steering Committee) - By Invitation Only

WEDNESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2023
08:30 - 09:00 Registration, Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

09:00 - 10:00 PLENARY SESSION 4
Chair: Debra Kaysen
09:00 - 09:30 Climate-Informed Practice: A Clinical Imperative and Interdisciplinary Opportunity
09:30 - 10:00 Assessing Socio-Emotional Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment Across Cultures

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

10:00 - 10:15 Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

Rachel Williamson (USA)
Monique Pfaltz (Sweden)

PARALLEL SESSIONS 3 & 4
10:15 - 11:30 SESSION 3: Climate ChangeCamphor (3) - 1st floor
Chair: Rachel Williamson
Discussion led by Rachel Williamson with Prof Guy Midgley and researchers from the School for Climate
Studies at Stellenbosch University
10:15 - 11:30 SESSION 4: Child Maltreatment and Cross-Cultural Treatment
Chair: Rachel Langevin
10:15 - 10:40 How does the Experience and Acceptance of Child Maltreatment Affect Resilience? A Cross-CulturalPerspective
10:40 - 11:05 Child Maltreatment in India
11:05 - 11:30 Regulation of Interpersonal Distance in the Context of Childhood Maltreatment Across Cultures

Camphor (1,2) - 1st floor

Misari Oe (Japan)
Naved Iqbal (India)
Antonia Lüönd (Switzerland)

11:30 - 11:45 Stretch Break
11:45 - 13:15 PLENARY SESSION 5
11:45 - 12:15 Report back from Parallel Themed Sessions 3 & 4
Chair: Ulrich Schnyder
Each rapporteur will provide a 5 min summary followed by 5 min for Q&A (15 Mins)
12:15 - 13:15 Focused Discussion
Chair: Miranda Olff
Expanding the Research Agenda
Bridging the Research-Practice-Policy Gap: What Can We Do as the GCTS?

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

13:15 - 14:15 Lunch & Networking

Terrace Room 2

14:15 - 16:20 PLENARY SESSION 6
Chair: Debbie Kaminer
14:15 - 14:45 Cross-Cultural Treatment of Trauma-Related Disorders
14:45 - 15:15 Leveraging Data Science and FAIR Principles to Address Global Trauma and Health Inequities
Chair: Carolina Salgado
15:15 - 15:35 MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD
15:35 - 15:55 Ethical Challenges of Psychedelic Treatments
15:55 - 16:15 Neurotechnologies and AI
16:15 - 16:20 Announcement of Poster Award Winners

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

16:20 - 16:50 Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

19:00

Moyo, Kirstenbosch

Gala Dinner - Prebooked Delegates Only

Ulrich Schnyder (Switzerland)
Debra Kaysen (USA)

Debra Kaysen (USA)
Denise Hien (USA)Charleen Justice (USA)Soraya Seedat (SA)
Olivia Matshabane (SA)

THURSDAY 14 DECEMBER 2023
08:30 - 09:00 Registration, Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

09:00 - 10:00 PLENARY SESSION 7
Chair: Jaco Rossouw
09:00 - 09:30 Supporting First Responders Caught Up in Armed Conflict
09:30 - 10:00 Identifying Biological, Psychological, and Social Predictors of PTSD in Victims of the Colombian ArmedConflict

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor
Jana Javakhishvili (Georgia)
Cherie Armour (UK)10:00 - 10:15 Stretch Break
PARALLEL SESSIONS 5 & 6
10:15 - 11:30 SESSION 5: Forcibly Displaced Persons and Armed Conflict
Chair: Jana Javakhishvili
Civilians on Fire: Moral injury and Associated Mental Health Symptoms in Ukrainians under the Russian
Invasion
Posttraumatic Stress among Refugees residing in Sweden – Prevalence, Assessment, and Intervention

Camphor (1,2) - 1st Floor
Larysa Zasiekina (UK)Anna Bjärtå (Sweden)

10:15 - 11:30 SESSION 6: Mental Health Care Needs of Refugees and MigrantsChairs: Stéfanie Fréel, Georgina Spies
Prolonging Trauma: Language and Mental Health Care Access for African Migrants to South Africa

Camphor (3) - 1st Floor

11:30 - 11:45 Tea/Coffee

Foyer Camphor

11:45 - 13:30 PLENARY SESSION 8
11:45 - 12:15 Report back from Parallel Themed Sessions 5 & 6
Chair: Miranda Olff
Each rapporteur will provide a 5 min summary followed by 5 min for Q&A (15 Mins)
Discussion on the way forward
12:15 - 13:15 Brainstorming Session
Chair: Monique Pfaltz
12:15 - 12:45 Key Topics in Psychotraumatology and Identifying GCTS Collaborative Project Opportunities
12:45 - 13:15 Future GCTS Initiatives
13:15 - 13:30 Closing
Announcement of the Next GC-TS Conference
Closing Words

Camphor (1,2,3) - 1st Floor

Leslie Swartz (SA), Rowan Madzamba (SA),Asithandile Nozewu (SA), Warona Mateane (SA),Christine Anthonissen (SA)Naved Iqbal (India)
Ulrich Schnyder (Switzerland), Miranda Olff (TheNetherlands), Soraya Seedat (SA)13:30 - 14:30 Lunch
14:00 - 15:00 GCTS Steering Committee Meeting (For Steering Committee Members Only)

CamphorABSTRACT INDEX
Virtual Abstracts
1Ms Delhalle Manon
Childhood maltreatment, adult attachment and parental sense of competence

In-Person Abstracts1

Ms Nimrah Afzal
Barriers and facilitators to providing psychosocial support to acutely injured children in the emergency department

2

Dr Nuha Alshabani
Use of implementation facilitation for PTSD treatments to enhance health equity in low resources settings

3

Ms Megan Bailey
Associations between childhood trauma and psychiatric disorders in adolescence in a population-based prospective birth cohort in Brazil

4

Dr Bruno Coimbra
Examining the interplay of tonic immobility with the onset, severity, and progression of posttraumatic stress disorder: Systematic review and metaanalysis of the literature

5

Dr Bruno Coimbra
Exploring moral injury and its relationship with mental health in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Meta-analysis

6

Mr Morne Du Plessis
Evaluating the performance of polygenic risk score- & machine learning-based classification for the prediction of PTSD in a South African population

7

Dr Barnabas James Gilbert
Tracking population-level anxiety using search engine data

8

Prof Sian Hemmings
The interaction between the gut microbiome and host genome in posttraumatic stress disorder

9Dr Esmé Jansen van Vuren
Associations between allostatic load, cardiovascular disease risk, trauma, and resilience in individuals with PTSD and trauma-exposed controls

10

Mr Dan Jenkins
Combined effects of socio-economic status, social strain, and childhood maltreatment on comfortable interpersonal distance in the south African context

11

Mr Dan Jenkins
Child maltreatment through a cross-cultural lens – An international study12

Ms Jeanet KarchoudLong-term PTSD prevalence and the adverse psychological, function and economic consequences: A 12-15 year follow-up in adults with traumatic injury

13

Dr Jessica Lambert
Risk and protective factors for mental health among Congolese refugees in Uganda: Exploring gender differences

14

Mr Jörgen Lehmivaara
Can a single Somatic Experiencing Session increase psychological and body boundary related safety in adults with varying degrees of child maltreatment?

15

Dr Anna Leiler
Digital tools can increase access to care for traumatized refugees -under certain conditions

16

Mr Kabelo Maloka
Investigating genetic variants in ADCYAP1, ADCYAP1R1, and BRSK2 in relation to the trajectory of posttraumatic stress symptoms

17

Mrs Jennifer Meurling
Validity of an online tiered screening procedure to identify PTSD among refugees18

Ms MaryAnn Notarianni
Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in military and veteran populations: Results and recommendations from a systematic review and meta-analysisof population-based studies

19

Ms MaryAnn Notarianni
Intimate Partner Violence among Veterans and their Families: Identifying and addressing gaps in knowledge to inform services, supports and policy

20

Dr Jani Nöthling / Dr Naeemah Abrahams
Change in emotional distress, anxiety, depression and PTSD from pre- to post-flood exposure in women residing in low-income settings in South Africa

21

Dr Jani Nöthling / Dr Naeemah Abrahams
Depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms two years post-rape and the role of early counselling: Rape Impact Cohort Evaluation (RICE) study

22

Dr Vuyokazi Ntlantsana
A single case experimental design pilot of a brief PTSD intervention for people with first-episode psychosis and PTSD.

23

Ms Lindokuhle Tyelo
Associations between intimate partner violence, sexual trauma, and suicide in HIV+ women attending primary care in South Africa

24

Ms Anne Stevenson
Pathways between trauma types and psychotic symptoms: a network analysis of patients with psychotic disorders in a large, multi-country study25

Ms Alberta Van Der Watt
Hippocampus, amygdala, and insula activation in response to romantic relationship dissolution stimuli: A case-case-control fMRI study on emerging
adult students

26

Ms Amy-Jean Viljoen
Healthcare workers’ experiences of post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic

27

Dr Nataly Woollet
Arts-based pilot intervention for adolescents experiencing sexual violence in pregnancy: Preliminary shifts in reflective functioning and self-regulation

28

Dr Susanne Young
Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of Traumatic Stress Relief (TSR) Program in Burkina Fas29

Prof Serhii Zasiekin
Psycholinguistic markers of war-related trauma in the war narratives of Bohdan Lepkyi and today’s Ukrainians

INVITED SPEAKERS

SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS
On behalf of the organising committee we would like to thank each one ofour sponsors for thier contirbutions towards the Congress.

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
SIG AND SA SOCIETY OF
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY

The Global Collaboration On

TRAUMATIC STRESSCONFERENCE 2023
www.gctscapetown2023.co.za