JMFT SPECIAL SECTION ON MASS TRAUMA Elizabeth Wieling (Co-editor) University of Minnesota Mona Mittal (Co-editor) Syracuse University INTRODUCTION The need for an ecosystemic understanding of mass trauma in global mental health has been consistently recorded across audiences ranging from humanitarian action groups and governmental agencies to public and mental health disciplines and professional organizations. The term trauma is used to connote a range of events and experiences that severely impact an individual or groups of individuals. In this special section the focus is on ‘‘mass trauma,’’ which is conceptualized here as an event involving multiple people simultaneously experiencing, wit- nessing, or being confronted with actual and / or threatened death, serious injury, and threat to self or others. The most common examples of mass trauma typically involve natural disasters, transportation disasters, technology-related disasters, war and organized violence, civil / politi- cal / community violence, terrorist acts, and hostage and shooting situations (Webb, 2004). Crises ranging from hurricanes and earthquakes to civil war, from famine to genocide, from the southeast Asian tsunami of 2004 to the wars in Afghanistan and later in Iraq follow- ing the terrorist attacks of 9 / 11 in New York City, along with a host of additional natural and human-made disasters worldwide, have forever changed the psychological, social, economic, and political landscape of the world we live in. These events have tested our capacity for responsive humanitarian action as well as the ability of mental health professionals to respond effectively to the overwhelming and increasingly complex needs of families directly impacted by these traumatic events. There is ample evidence of the growing requirements for mental health professionals to develop programs of intervention and build skills that aid in the prevention of mental health disorders and other maladaptive behaviors that frequently manifest in popula- tions exposed to traumatic experiences (National Institute of Mental Health, 2002). Presently, most conventional mental health approaches for mass trauma, empirically vali- dated or otherwise, are individually focused and are often psychopathological in their orienta- tion (Pynoos, Steinberg, & Goenjian, 1996; Terr, 1991; van der Kolk, Roth, Pelcovitz, Sunday, & Spinazzola, 2005). There is a glaring gap in the literature when it comes to understanding the relational impact of mass trauma and subsequent treatment at the family and community levels. Even though a number of scholars have written about the mitigating impact of mass trauma on families and larger social networks (e.g., Mollica, 2006; Norris, Galea, Friedman, & Watson, 2006; Webb, 2004), few research studies (and even fewer empirically conducted research studies) document innovative family- and community-level approaches for the treat- ment of PTSD and / or the multitude of more commonly expressed and associated comorbidities such as substance abuse, high suicide risk, violence, and depression that often accompany the aftermath of exposure to mass trauma. Elizabeth Wieling, PhD, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota; Mona Mittal, PhD, College of Human Ecology, Syracuse University. Address correspondence to Elizabeth Wieling, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, 290, McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108; E-mail: lwieling@umn.edu Journal of Marital and Family Therapy April 2008, Vol. 34, No. 2, 127–131 April 2008 JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY 127