Integrated systems healing: a unified assessment and psycho-educational approach in psychological trauma treatment

This doctoral study examines the aspects of psychological trauma and investigates why singular explanatory models fail compared with a holistic approach. Part of this integrated approach includes the development of a benchmarked psychometric test, the Sherry Trauma Assessment Test [STAT]) (Copyrighted © Richard Sherry 2011). The test’s reliability was evaluated using Chronbach’s alpha (p< 0.001 levels of significance), which these findings were crosschecked with the findings from eleven other psychometric tests to standardise the results. In comparing the data sets, the STAT test project data was used to both answer fundamental questions within the field of clinical trauma psychology and confirm the reliability of the newly developed psychometric test. Furthermore, the information was collected and used to derive a principle component analysis (PCA) to help in developing a model to support current thinking within the social neuro-scientific arenas as well as to better organize clinical psychology assessment and treatment approaches. These findings have important implications on how trauma, in particular, the human neuropsychological learning process, is addressed. This psychometric foundation was then used to develop this newer model and adaptive tele-medicine platform (Zielinski et al., 2006). This multidisciplinary integration of information, expertise and models, has served to clarify the effects of maturation in relationship to traumatic response and helped to refine the understanding of how traumatic phenomena serves to fragment the integration of embedded systems, and what can be done to reverse these problematic processes in order to replace them with positive cycles of development. The STAT test findings have shown statistically significant results (p< 0.001 level), which provide quantitatively grounded evidence in support of this psychometric measure and improve clinical assessment and treatment approaches. The theoretical model of the STAT test is included in the concept of Integrated Systems Healing, which was developed independently, but has similar theoretical roots in Goetz and Caron’s (2005) bio-psychosocial model of the Systemic Healing used in the treatment of sick children. The author describes further conceptual developments within the concept of Integrated Systems Healing (Copyrighted © Richard Sherry 2011) to include the holistic systems approach, which could be used for a large-scale treatment with specific interacting components of Integration, Compassion, Developmentally scaled interventions, and Sustainability or the ICDS Model (Copyrighted © Richard Sherry 2011). This project has evolved improved strategies for integrative assessment, feedback, and holistic approaches for learning and programme development to improve people’s lives. These foundations of improved internal and external dynamic assessment connect to flexible tele-health approaches, using defined cut-off scores, elearning modules, and strategies for checking and reassessment. Further work links and integrates processes to identify and reduce vulnerability and strengthen resiliency and support.