Loading...
Given the high frequency of natural and human-caused disasters, increasing our ability to predict who among the survivors is most likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is of considerable interest. Investigators examined data on 881 systematically interviewed victims who were directly exposed to one of 10 U.S. disasters that occurred in 1987–1995.
The disasters included four mass shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing, a plane crash, an industrial accident, and natural disasters (earthquake, flood, tornado). More than a third of interviewees sustained injuries, and a similarly sized group reported that they had witnessed injury or death; one half knew someone injured or killed in the disaster. At a median of 3 months afterward…