Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-09T23:39:28.730Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder following physical trauma: an examination of the stressor criterion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Anthony Feinstein  and
Ray Dolan
Anthony Feinstein*
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London
Ray Dolan
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Anthony Feinstein, The Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WCIN 3BG.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

A prospective study documenting psychopathology was undertaken in 48 subjects exposed to a range of physical trauma, but whose injuries were of similar severity. No support was found for the DSM-III-R view correlating the severity of the stressor with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Distress post injury (high scores on the impact of event scale), indicative of difficulty with cognitive assimilation of the traumatic event, was found to be highly predictive of psychiatric morbidity and PTSD at 6 months.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 85 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edn 3. AMA: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edn 3 revised. AMA: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Breslau, N. & Davis, G. C. (1987). Post-traumatic stress disorder. The stressor criterion. Journal of Mental and Nervous Disease 15, 255–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, E. A., Spitzer, R. L. & Williams, J. B. W. (1988). DSM-III-R criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 1232–1236.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. & Hillier, V. F. (1979). A scaled version of the general health questionnaire. Psychological Medicine 9, 139–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. (1970). A standardized psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 24, 18–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Green, B. L., Grace, M. C., Lindy, J. D. & Gleser, G. C. (1990). War stressors and symptom persistence in post-traumatic stress dis-order. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 4, 31–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenspan, L., McLellan, B. A. & Greig, H. (1985). Abbreviated injury scale and injury severity score: a scoring chart. Journal of Trauma 25, 60–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Helzer, J. E., Robins, L. N. & McEvoy, L. (1987). Post-traumatic stress disorder in the general population: findings of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Survey. New England Journal of Medicine 317, 1630–1634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hendin, H. & Haas, A. P. (1984). Combat adaptatinos of Vietnam veterans without post-traumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 141, 956–960.Google Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N. & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of Event Scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine 41, 209–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N., Kaltreider, N. & Alvarez, W. (1980). Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 37, 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Weiss, D. S. & Marmar, C. (1987). Diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 175, 267–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFarlane, A. C. (1988). Relationship between psychiatric impairment and a natural disaster: the role of distress. Psychological Medicine 18, 129–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, F. L. (1976). Personality factors in highway accidents. Human Factors 18, 433–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malt, U. (1988). The long-term psychiatric consequences of accidental injury. A longitudinal study of 107 adults. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 810–818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, A. H.Jenkins, R., Cutting, J. C. & Cowen, P. J. (1981). The development and use of a standardized assessment of abnormal personality. Psychological Medicine 11, 839–847.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
March, J. S. (1990). The nosology of post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 4, 61–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norusis, M. J. (1986). SPSS/PC+TM: for the IBM PC/XT/AT. SPSS: Chicago.Google Scholar
Pitman, R. K., Altman, B. & Macklin, M. L. (1989). Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in wounded Vietnam veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry 146, 667–669.Google ScholarPubMed
Raphael, B. (1986). When Disaster Strikes. Hutchinson: London.Google Scholar
Selye, H. (1956). Stress in Health and Disease. Butterworths: Boston.Google Scholar
Shore, J., Tatem, E. & Vollmer, W. (1986). The Mount St. Helen's stress response syndrome. In Disaster Stress Findings; New Methods and Findings, (ed. Shore, J.). American Psychiatric Press Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sierles, F. S., Chen, J. J., McFarland, R. E. & Taylor, M. A. (1983). Post-traumatic stress disorder and concurrent psychiatric illness. A preliminary report. American Journal of Psychiatry 140, 1177–1179.Google ScholarPubMed
Tsuang, M. T., Boor, M. & Fleming, J. A. (1985). Psychiatric aspects of traffic accidents. Amierican Journal of Psychiatry 142, 538–546.Google ScholarPubMed
Wheaton, B. (1983). Stress, personal coping resources, and psychiatric symptoms. An investigation of interactive models. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour 24, 208–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zilberg, N. J., Weiss, D. S. & Horowitz, M. J. (1982). Impact of event scale: a cross validation study and some empirical evidence supporting a conceptual model of stress response syndromes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 50, 407–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar