Prof’s blog explores trauma

Tamara Khandaker
Contributor
The Trauma and Attachment Report, a blog launched by Dr. Robert Muller of the department of psychology, attempts to make academic research on the topic of interpersonal trauma, conducted by the department, more accessible to the general public.
The weekly report will include articles on topics such as the causes and consequences of trauma, the various treatment and prevention methods of trauma, and the effects it has on society. The contributing writers of the blog are all students of the trauma and attachment lab at York.

This attempt to disseminate information to the population, outside of the academic community is part of a larger initiative that is being taken on by the university, according to Dr. Muller. “So that’s what this is really about – getting knowledge, and getting it out there in a way that is interesting – or we hope is interesting,” he says. So far, the blog has been met with a very positive response.
Dr. Muller sees his approach expanding to other fields of study and feels that since people have very little access to work done by academics, they don’t understand how far-reaching the consequences of university research are. He says, “People often don’t know what professors do – they know that they teach, but not everyone knows that research programs have a direct bearing on their lives, that university research really affects the things that happen.” The difference between this particular blog and other blogs about the topic of trauma, according to Dr. Muller, is that other blogs, while sometimes providing very interesting perspectives and opinions, are not grounded in empirical research conducted by a university.
The other purpose of the Trauma and Attachment Report is to provide students with an opportunity to learn to write in a style outside of the very structured and academic way they are required to as students. “A lot of students in psychology get some good experience writing academic papers and that’s really important but they also need to be able to take information and make it accessible to others,” says Dr. Muller. “So that’s another purpose of the blog – an educational one for the students in my lab.”
Sara Rependa is a third-year psychology student at York, and a contibuting writer for the blog. The greatest challenge that the writers have faced so far, according to Rependa, is writing in a more conversational and less formal manner that what they are used to as students. She is, however, very enthusiastic about the praise that blog has received and sees other academic circles moving online to disperse information.  “It is absolutely crucial that they learn how to use the world wide web and blogs such as the Trauma and Attachment blog, and Facebook and Twitter and all those other social networking tools in order to get their message across,” she says.
“I think what Dr. Muller is doing by finding an alternative print in the internet is a wonderful idea, and I think it is going to be leading the way for other academics and people who want to share information to do the same.”
You can see the report at www.trauma.blog.yorku.ca