I’m here at the annual ISTSS conference (International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies) to scan the field for new findings and techniques in treating traumatic stress.  This field is exploding so rapidly, it’s hard to stay current – which is a wonderful thing.  So I’m going to be soaking up new info like a sponge.

And more importantly, the clever and bodacious Dr. Jennifer Strauss, principal investigator from Duke and the Durham V.A., will at last be presenting some of her findings from the guided imagery for trauma study (GIFT is the acronym) with women suffering from military sexual trauma from the Vietnam War.  Very exciting!

This year it’s in Chicago, and this city is so proud of itself for launching Barack Obama’s political career, it’s simply beside itself.  It’s fun to see the local news going crazy, and the cameras trained on my old neighborhood of Hyde Park, where I lived for a decade myself.  I love Chicago – such a vital, gritty, alive, juicy city!  Everything Carl Sandburg said was true!!