UB Faculty Experts

EXPERT CONTACT : Dr. Steven L. Dubovsky, MD Professor and Chair of Psychiatry University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 716-898-5940

Dubovsky is an expert on post-traumatic stress. He has studied the Columbine, Colo., shootings and interviewed survivors of the tragedy. His thoughts on the Chardon High School tragedy:

"There's a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder after an event like this, and some students end up having problems with grades, dropping out of school, etc., over the next couple of years."

"There also may be an increased incidence of accidents and suicides. The best response in treating student-survivors depends on what resources exist within the community, and how comfortable they feel with discussing the tragedy with outside experts.”

"When survivors are interviewed on TV about the death of friends and classmates it is rarely helpful, and sometimes harmful, because it evokes more distress and arousal without resolving anything. The best approach often is to strengthen the sense of community; to help the students finding meaning; and to identify something positive coming out of the tragedy if possible."

"Recent research shows that prompt or even delayed intervention can prevent post-traumatic stress disorder in survivors of disasters like this.”

With U.S. forces leaving Iraq, experts from the University at Buffalo are available to discuss the challenges veterans face upon returning home. From job hunting in a weak economy to living with traumatic brain injury or PTSD, readjusting to life in the civilian world can be difficult.

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EXPERT CONTACT : John Violanti, PhD Professor, Social and Preventive Medicine PTSD specialist Phone: 716-829- Violanti@buffalo.edu

John Violanti, PhD., expert in PTSD, says the risk of PTSD in the Chilean miners probably is a lot lower than being in combat because of the high degree of social support, not only among the group down in the mine, but also from their family and friends above.

Most research shows that support is the biggest factor that can ameliorate PTSD. 

Violanti, a military veteran and former member of the New York State Police, studies the effect of stress in persons working in dangerous professions, such as police, firefighters, and those in the military.

EXPERT CONTACT :  Steven L Dubovsky, M.D. Professor and Chair Department of Psychiatry University at Buffalo 716-898-5940 Dubovsky@Buffalo.edu

Dubovsky is an expert in treating psychological trauma. He says a component of the international response to this disaster should include established interventions to prevent and treat the psychophysiologic consequences of exposure to this terrible event.

EXPERT CONTACT : Steven L Dubovsky, M.D. Professor and Chair Department of Psychiatry University at Buffalo 716-898-5940 Dubovsky@Buffalo.edu

"It is pointless, and even harmful to search for the motivations of mass killers," says Dubovsky, who also is president-elect of ProtectNY, an academic consortium that studies the prevention and management of disasters. "They kill because they can.They don't kill because of political or religious beliefs, or because they feel hurt or disenfranchised, and they certainly do not kill because they are mentally ill.  There are no psychiatric causes of mass murder. There are no social causes of mass murder. The causes are deviant individuals who do not feel bound by human empathy or any other attachment to the human race.

"Experience with similar tragedies and with the massive intervention following the World Trade Center attacks have taught us how people react to civilian trauma and how to help the survivors," says Dubovsky, who studied the psychological impact of the Columbine murders. We know that a single debriefing does not prevent later problems and in some cases makes things worse. On the other hand, established structured therapies can treat acute distress and prevent chronic problems such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 "The more we can draw on and lean on friends and  loved ones, and the more we can increase our sense of control over what comes next, the better we will weather the storm."