Medium-Term Course of Disaster Victims

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Background Our aim was to describe the medium-term course (2–3 years) in a series of victims who had experienced severe trauma. Method We selected a consecutive series of 31 trauma victims and applied a structured clinical schedule (CAPS-2) to their psychiatric evaluations prepared for the court on two separate occasions approximately one year apart. Results Post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were the commonest diagnoses, occurring in 39% and 16% of the victims respectively when they were first assessed. Most had improved between the assessments and this was especially the case for the re-experiencing of the trauma and over-arousal, but less so for avoidance; 20% of subjects showed no improvement, often being handicapped by secondary psychiatric illness. Conclusion Traumatised victims generally showed recovery in the 2–3 years after the trauma, but this was slow and was not universal.

This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit: