The aetiology of post-traumatic stress disorders following a natural disaster.
The onset of post-traumatic stress disorders in a group of firefighters who had an intense exposure to a bushfire disaster was investigated using a longitudinal research design. Contrary to expectation, the intensity of exposure, the perceived threat, and the losses sustained in the disaster, when considered independently, were not predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder. By contrast, introversion, neuroticism, and a past history and family history of psychiatric disorder were premorbid factors significantly associated with the development of chronic post-traumatic stress disorders.
McFarlane
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AC
Department of Psychiatry, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park.
D001315:Australia; D004190:Disasters; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology*