Alain Brunet
Associate Professor
Psychiatry
McGill University
Canada
Biography
As a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, Dr. Brunet has been investigating the impact of trauma exposure on individuals for over 15 years, with a special focus on characterizing the risk factors and developing effective treatments for PTSD, such as early intervention and reconsolidation blockade. This last treatment made the top ten discoveries list for 2008 in Quebec in the magazine Québec Science. Recently, Dr. Brunet embarked on a comprehensive study of factors affecting health decisions during the H1N1 pandemic. In 2001, Dr. Brunet developed the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory, or PDI, the first instrument to assess the recalled amount of distress experienced at the time of a traumatic event. The PDI is currently being utilized by more than 30 teams across the world and has been translated into 11 languages. Dr. Brunet is editor-in-chief of The International Journal of Victimology and assistant editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress. In 2008, he founded info-trauma.org, a website intended for victims of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and professionals in the field. Dr. Brunet is co-recipient of a grant from the U.S. Army to pursue work on an innovative treatment (to block memory reconsolidation) for PTSD and a recipient of a grant from the Douglas Institute Foundation for the development of the website info-trauma.org. In 2006, he was listed on the MacLean’s annual honour roll as one of the 39 Canadians who make the world a better place to live and was named "Personality of the Week" by the Montreal newspaper La Presse.
Research Interest
Post-traumatic stress disorder, internet and mental health, pandemics
Publications
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The Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Early Temperament: The 2011 Queensland Flood Study. Simcock G, Elgbeili G, Laplante DP, Kildea S, Cobham V, Stapleton H, Austin MP, Brunet A, King S.
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Risk factor modifications and depression incidence: a 4-year longitudinal Canadian cohort of the Montreal Catchment Area Study. Meng X, Brunet A, Turecki G, Liu A, D'Arcy C, Caron J.
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Mental Disorder Symptoms among Public Safety Personnel in Canada. Carleton RN, Afifi TO, Turner S, Taillieu T, Duranceau S, LeBouthillier DM, Sareen J, Ricciardelli R, MacPhee RS, Groll D, Hozempa K, Brunet A, Weekes JR, Griffiths CT, Abrams KJ, Jones NA, Beshai S, Cramm HA, Dobson KS, Hatcher S, Keane TM, Stewart SH, Asmundson GJG.
