Antecedents and consequences of Acute Stress Disorder among motor vehicle accident victims

https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(96)00027-7Get rights and content

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine differences between motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims diagnosed retrospectively with Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and subsequent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and MVA victims with only PTSD. A total of 14 ASD subjects and 28 PTSD subjects (matched on age and on sex) were compared on subjects' levels of functioning and symptom severity at three time-points: pre-MVA, 1–4 months post-MVA (initial assessment), and 6 months post initial assessment. Fourteen non-MVA subjects were included as controls in the analyses for pre-MVA differences and presence of psychopathology at time of initial assessment. ASDs had higher rates of previous mood disorders (other than major depression), previous AXIS-I disorders, and previous AXIS-II disorders than did PTSDs. No differences existed between the groups at 6-month follow-up. These results provide clinically useful information regarding characteristics that predispose people to develop ASD in the aftermath of a trauma. Previous research with trauma victims has demonstrated dissociative symptoms to be associated with higher PTSD symptom severity and longer symptom duration, but our follow-up results suggest that ASD, which is characterized by dissociative symptomatology, is not indicative of poorer outcome in MVA victims.

References (26)

  • E.B. Blanchard et al.

    Psychological morbidity associated with motor vehicle accidents

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (1994)
  • E.B. Blanchard et al.

    Short-term follow-up of post-traumatic stress symptoms in motor vehicle accident victims

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (1995)
  • American Psychiatric Association
  • American Psychiatric Association
  • A.T. Beck et al.

    An inventory for measuring depression

    Archives of General Psychiatry

    (1961)
  • E.M. Bernstein et al.

    Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale

    Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

    (1986)
  • D. Blake et al.

    Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS)

    (1990)
  • E. Cardeña et al.

    Dissociative reactions to the San Francisco Bay Area earthquake of 1989

    American Journal of Psychiatry

    (1993)
  • C. Classen et al.

    Trauma and dissociation

    Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic

    (1993)
  • A. Holen

    The North Sea oil rig disaster

  • B.S. Holland et al.

    Improved Bonferroni type multiple testing procedures

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1988)
  • M.J. Horowitz et al.

    Impact of Events scale: A measure of subjective stress

    Psychosomatic Medicine

    (1979)
  • M.B. Keller et al.

    A longitudinal interval follow-up evaluation: A comprehensive method for assessing outcome and prospective longitudinal studies

    Archives of General Psychiatry

    (1987)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text