The Center has eight primary research areas: Children, Disaster and Terror, War, Work, Violence, Illness, Health and Grief, Rehabilitation and Trauma Mechanisms and Methods.

The Center publishes new articles within the research areas each year. Below is the number of publications since the center was founded in 2009.

Last updated April 2023

The Center collaborates with partners across Denmark

• amk (The Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine) Odense University Hospital , Bisbebjerg, Herning
• Emergency rooms Odense University Hospital, Esbjerg
• Centres for Rape Odense University Hospital, Herning, Holbæk
• DaCHE (Danish Centre for Health Economics), University of Southern Denmark
• Psychiatry, Region of Southern Denmark, Region Zealand and Capital Region of Denmark
• Department for Trauma and Torture Survivors (ATT), Odense and Vejle
• Filadelfia, the epilepsy hospital
• CSM Denmark (The Centre for Victims of Sexual Assault)
• RCT Jutland (Rehabilitation Centre for Traumatized People)
• DIGNITY
• The veteran centre
• National Police of Denmark
• Directorate of Social Affairs, Nuuk
• Aarhus University, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research
• Copenhagen University, Psychology

We, at the Danish Center of Psychotraumatology, are especially proud of our work within:

• The contribution to the narrow PTSD diagnosis and the new diagnosis of complex PTSD in WHO ICD-11 with a total of 26 publications from our center.
• Assesment in childhood - we have provided the 5 regional children's centres with validating assesment tools, including a newly developed dollhouse test, Odense Child Screening Test (OCTS), for children from the age 4-8 whom have limited language skills - thereby being suitable for traumatized children who have been exposed to abuse. 

And as the first we have been able to prove:

• A positive effect of staying in shelters in terms of a significant reduction of trauma symptoms - we are now starting a study of the 160 children in the shelters.
• Psychological violence is more harmful than physical and sexual violence - we are consulting with WHO to develop definitions and interventions.
• That children with epilepsy can also develop PTSD and half of their parents are also traumatized - we are developing parenting programmes at Filadelfia. 
• That half of the children whose mothers are stalked develop PTSD - we are helping the Danish Stalking Centre to expand their treatment efforts. 

In addition, we are also proud of:

• The regional incest centres (CSM) use our assessment battery to monitor their treatment - in 19 published analyses, we have examined their client group and are in the process of improving treatment for a group that has not benefited from their treatment.
• We where able to show that the amygdala and hippocampus in the non-dominant hemisphere act as a firewall against old traumas. 
• We have mapped trauma exposure and prevalence of PTSD in 10 countries among adolescents. 
• We were the first to study the prevalence of secondary traumatization in Denmark among workers in vulnerable occupations. 
• We have studied the consequences of all recent Danish disasters. 
• We have contributed to the quality assurance of a recommendation to the UN General Assembly on peacekeeping forces.

The centers plan for the future 2023-2027

• Odense Child Trauma Screening (OCTS) has been launched in 10 countries.
• Conducted data-driven therapy within two areas of trauma. 
• Done a follow-up on the 1984 cohort (different types of abuse) and with the inclusion of siblings and non-respondents.
• Carried out a population study of trauma exposure.
• Secured financial foundation by being included in the Finance Act.
• Conduct one official task per year for the National Board of Health and Welfare or the equivalent.
• Be the main supplier of trauma tests in Greenland.

The Danish Center of Psychotraumatology is located at the Institute for Psychology at the Southern University of Denmark.

The center can be contacted by e-mail: psykotraume@health.sdu.dk

Find us on Facebook here