title: Earthquake related startle reaction and its EEG correlates.
abstract: The acute effect of traumatizing events on the human brain has long been studied. The major obstacles to this endeavor have been the severity and the delay from time of exposure to the traumatizing events. To avoid these issues, EEG and clinical examinations of 18 healthy, drug-free subjects were performed 2 weeks after an earthquake occurred in Turkey in 1999. It was found, for the first time to our knowledge, that EEG parameters can predict startle response in acute stress reaction correctly in 100% of the cases. EEG measures of the reactivity to eyes opening were especially important in this regard.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arikan
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uysal
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oran
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coban
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tolun
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kokrek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004190:Disasters; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey