Joris Haagen

ARQ Impact Centre of Excellence Disaster and Crises

Background: Most staff stay healthy during humanitarian work, although some worsen. Mean scores on health indicators may be masking individual participants struggling with health issues. Aims: To investigate different field assignment-related health trajectories among international humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs) and explore the mechanisms used...

Background International humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs) are motivated strongly to travel abroad to help communities affected by war, famine, disaster and disease. They expose themselves to dangers and hardships during their field assignments. Despite working under such challenging circumstances, most workers remain healthy. The objective of the p...

Research findings show humanitarian work impacts one's health. We conducted a prospective observational study among 618 international humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs)’ recruited from 76 countries to investigate health changes and ill-health risk factors after mostly short-term (<1 year) medical emergency assignments. The aid workers were assigned t...

Background: Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to benefit less from evidence-based treatments than other PTSD populations. A novel virtual reality and motion-assisted exposure therapy, called 3MDR, provides treatment in an immersive, personalized and activating context. Objective: To study the efficacy of 3MDR for veterans w...

Objective: Due to traumatic experiences and highly prevalent post-migration stressors, refugees are vulnerable for developing psychopathology. To date, research has mainly evaluated trauma-focused therapies, targeting post traumatic stresss symptoms. Treatments targeting post-migration stressors are relatively understudied. The present cohort study...

Objectives: Dissociation is a prevalent phenomenon among veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that may interfere with the effectiveness of treatment. This study aimed to replicate findings of a dissociative PTSD subtype, to identify corresponding patterns in coping style, symptom type, and symptom severity, and to investigate its im...

Objectives: Given the recent peak in refugee numbers and refugees' high odds of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), finding ways to alleviate PTSD in refugees is of vital importance. However, there are major differences in PTSD treatment response between refugees, the determinants of which are largely unknown. This study aimed at imp...

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore perceived posttraumatic growth (PTG) and its associations with potentially traumatic events (PTEs), dispositional optimism, perceived social support, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and satisfaction with life (SWL) among adolescent refugees and asylum seekers. Method: A cross-section...

Background Childbirth can be a traumatic experience occasionally leading to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aimed to assess childbirth-related PTSD risk-factors using an etiological model inspired by the transactional model of stress and coping. Methods 348 out of 505 (70%) Dutch women completed questionnaires during pregnancy, one...

Soldiers and veterans diagnosed with PTSD benefit less from psychotherapy than non-military populations. The current meta-analysis identified treatment predictors for traumatised soldiers and veterans, using data from studies examining guideline recommended interventions, namely: EMDR, exposure, cognitive, cognitive restructuring, cognitive process...

PTSD treatment guidelines invariably point to trauma-focused therapy, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) as preferred interventions. Is the trauma focus justified? Researcher and psychologist Joris Haagen tells the story of a heated academic debate.

De smartphone heeft zichzelf inmiddels bewezen als een technologische ‘game changer’, en herschept daarmee de manier waarop we mensen met psychische stoornissen behandelen. De Amerikaanse zorginstantie Veterans Affairs (VA) speelde op deze ontwikkelingen in door twee apps te ontwikkelen voor de behandeling van veteranen met PTSS: de ‘PTSD Coach’ en...