From PTSD treatment centre to centre of expertise
Interview with Miranda Olff, director of research at ARQ
Over the years, ARQ has been developed from a treatment center to a center of expertise. Acting clinical and intuitive has made place for working evidence-based. Miranda Olff, director of research at ARQ, fully experienced the transformation.
“In the early years of ARQ, a diagnosis was made on the basis of the ‘clinical view’. The choice of treatment was also very much based on feeling. Over the past few decades, objectivity has become increasingly important to us. Not just at ARQ, but internationally. ARQ therefore also wants diagnoses and treatments to be or become scientifically substantiated – evidence based. Scientific research at ARQ takes place in close contact with practitioners and patients. Some practitioners are also researchers themselves.”
PTSD: a range of diagnoses and target groups
“Fifty years ago, the diagnosis of PTSD did not yet exist. We now distinguish all kinds of variations: in addition to PTSD, for example, moral injury and traumatic grief. Nowadays we also recognise that workers in certain occupational groups run a greater risk of experiencing shocking events. For example, PTSD is now recognised as an occupational risk by the police.
“We can now call ourselves a scientific centre of expertise. We are proud of this.”
In the early years, ARQ Centrum’45 was strictly limited to people who had had extreme experiences in the Second World War. With the current ARQ, the field of war has expanded to countries such as Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. We focus not only on the war victims themselves, but also on their families. In any case, the target groups have broadened. We now also see children, and for example people from the gymnastics world, whistleblowers, threatened officials, healthcare professionals and others. Disasters and crises are also part of the professional field. You can see the broadening of the field in the series of professors who hold chairs on behalf of ARQ throughout the country.”
All PTSD expertise under one roof
“The beauty of ARQ is that you can find everything in the field of trauma together. We are at the forefront of developing diagnostics, screening instruments and treatment options. Selected patients who have so far benefited too little from the usual therapies can experience here whether our approach offers them more. ARQ has six European partners: centres that are somewhat comparable in terms of the link between scientific research and treatment. In 2022, ARQ received recognition from the Rathenau Institute: we can now call ourselves a Public knowledge organisation. We are proud of this.”