Author Archives: samweiss

We investigated associations between pre-trauma insomnia symptoms and post-trauma substance use among 2449 participants presenting to emergency departments after trauma exposure. Our results suggested that pre-trauma insomnia symptoms predicted post-trauma heavy alcohol and cannabis use, as well as binge drinking. For heavy alcohol and cannabis use, posttraumatic stress symptom severity...

CHAPEL HILL, NC – (July 23, 2025) – The UNC Department of Psychiatry’s IMProving Adolescent and Child health Through Telepsychiatry in North Carolina (IMPACTT-NC) program has received a grant for $200,000 from Camber Foundation, aimed at expanding telepsychiatry services for school children in Duplin and Robeson counties. Camber Foundation is...

Community members, advocates and healthcare leaders gathered at the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health’s Tiny Homes Village in Pittsboro to witness the groundbreaking of a long-awaited Community House—a space that promises to be a cornerstone for individuals living with severe mental illness.

In the immediate aftermath of trauma exposure, individuals may experience an acute stress reaction (ASR), an intense response that adversely impacts emotional, cognitive, somatic and behavioral functioning. ASRs may resolve quickly but for individuals operating in high-stakes occupations, these reactions can potentially endanger themselves and those around them. Using data...

Using a large-scale longitudinal observational emergency department (ED)-based study of individuals with recent trauma exposure, we conducted random-intercept cross-lagged panel models to test whether sex differences exist in the temporal relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use over six months (assessed at five time points timepoints: ED...

Traumatic stress exposures (TSE) are common in life. While most individuals recover following a TSE, a substantial subset develop adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae such as chronic posttraumatic musculoskeletal pain (CPMP). Vulnerability factors for CPMP are poorly understood, which hinders identification of high-risk individuals for targeted interventions. One known vulnerability factor...