Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:34:53.703Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Combat Exposure:

Clinical Features and Psychopharmacological Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Avraham Bleich
Affiliation:
Central Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, Israel Defence Forces, Mental Health Department
Barry Siegel
Affiliation:
Beth Rivka Geriatric Hospital, Petah Tikvah
Ronald Garb
Affiliation:
Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba
Bernard Lerer*
Affiliation:
Jerusalem Mental Health Center, PO Box 140, Jerusalem, Israel
*
Correspondence

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder may follow combat stress or civilian psychological traumata. In 25 retrospectively studied patients, symptoms were severe in terms of number of DSM–III items fulfilled, chronicity, and severity of psychosocial disability. Antidepressants had good or moderate results in 67% of cases treated, but major tranquilisers were much less effective; response to drug treatment was not clearly related to somatisation symptoms, significant depression, or panic attacks. Pharmacotherapy appeared to have had a positive impact on psychotherapy in 70% of cases.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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 (3rd ed.) (DSM–III). Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Burstein, A. (1984) The treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder with imipramine. Psychosomatics, 25, 683687.Google Scholar
Figley, C. R. & Leventman, S. (eds) (1980) Strangers at Home: Vietnam Veterans Since the War. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Hogben, G. L. & Cornfield, R. B. (1981) Treatment of traumatic was neurosis with phenelzine. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 440445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N., Kaltreider, N. & Alvarez, W. (1980) Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 8592.Google Scholar
Kardiner, A. (1941) The Traumatic Neuroses of War. New York: P. Hoeber.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keane, T. M. & Fairbank, J. A. (1983) Survey analysis of combat-related stress disorders in Viet Nam veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 348350.Google Scholar
Levenson, H., Lanman, R. & Rankin, M. (1982) Traumatic war neurosis and phenelzine. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1345.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. R. (1975) The treatment of night terrors associated with the post-traumatic syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 293295.Google Scholar
Shin, W. W. & Park, S. (1983) The use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors in the treatment of traumatic war neurosis: case report. Military Medicine, 148, 430431.Google Scholar
Sierles, F. S., Jang-June, C., McFarland, R. E. & Taylor, M. A. (1983) Post-traumatic stress disorder and concurrent psychiatric illness: a preliminary report. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 11771179.Google ScholarPubMed
Solomon, Z. (1986) Personal communication.Google Scholar
Van der Kolk, B., Greenberg, M., Boyd, H. & Krystal, J. (1985) Inescapable shock, neurotransmitters and addiction to trauma: toward a psychobiology of post-traumatic stress. Biological Psychiatry, 20, 314325.Google Scholar
Walker, J. I. (1982) Chemotherapy of traumatic war stress. Military Medicine, 147, 10291033.Google Scholar
Yager, T., Laufer, R. & Gallops, M. (1984) Some problems associated with war experience in men of the Vietname generation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 327333.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.