title: Trauma treatment across Europe: where do we stand now from a perspective of seven countries.
abstract: There is a lack of knowledge about the state of affairs of the trauma treatments in Europe. To start to fill in this gap, key persons from seven European countries-Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and Turkey-accepted the invitation to give their expert opinion on the state of affairs in their country at an invited panel discussion at the XIV 2015 ESTSS Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. Brief reports from the seven countries reveal significant diversities among different European countries in terms of awareness of health problems related to trauma, the availability of trauma treatments, and treatment approaches. Political and economic differences across the European countries contribute to the diversities in the developments of trauma treatments. European national psychotrauma societies are active in establishing training curricula and dissemination of trauma-focused treatments. Despite the growing acknowledgment of trauma and dissemination of trauma-focused treatments, there is a lack of Europe-wide policies to ensure availability of trauma treatment in Europe for trauma survivors. The need for more detailed analysis of trauma treatment in all European countries and development of European-level trauma-informed health care policies is outlined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Organizational Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania; evaldas.kazlauskas@fsf.vu.lt.
authors.forename: Evaldas
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kazlauskas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Addictology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Javakhishvilli
authors.affiliation: Specialty Center for Complex Trauma and Personality Disorders, GGZ Noord-Holland Noord, Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mariel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meewisse
authors.affiliation: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Merecz-Kot
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Koç University School of Medicine (KUSOM), Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Vedat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Şar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schnyder
authors.affiliation: Arq Psychotrauma Expert Group, Diemen, The Netherlands.|Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Berthold P R
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Gersons
keywords: Europe; Georgia; Germany; Lithuania; Netherlands; PTSD; Poland; Switzerland; Trauma; Turkey; treatment