Alessandro Massazza

Area of Research / Academic Interests

"Alessandro is a PhD student in the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology under the co-supervision of Prof. Helene Joffe and Prof. Chris Brewin. He has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to research the psychiatric consequences of complex emergencies. His research will focus on peritraumatic phenomena, that are cognitive, affective and behavioural processes taking place during or immediately after the trauma. Those include phenomena such as peritraumatic dissociation, tonic immobility, distress, and panic. In particular he is interested in investigating the association between peritraumatic phenomena and the re-experiencing symptom cluster of post-traumatic stress disorder, i.e. intrusive memories, flashbacks, and nightmares. 

His past research interests have broadly focused on the mental health consequences of the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, and its consequent tsunami and nuclear disaster. He has also briefly worked with survivors of the 9/11 attacks. His current research is focusing on the 2016-2017 Central Italy earthquakes. Alessandro is also involved in ongoing projects looking at the mental health consequences of exposure to community violence among adolescents in Brazil and to armed conflict in Palestine."