Posttraumatic stress disorder in medically ill patients: what is known, what needs to be determined, and why is it important?
Can a medical illness or its treatment qualify as an emotionally traumatic event and can it cause posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms? If so, can the view of a medical illness as a traumatic experience enhance our ability to understand patients' adjustment to illness and their emotional reactions to it? Is it important to identify posttraumatic symptoms and try to address them in medically ill patients? These questions form the backbone for this review. Because many questions remain unanswered (or the answers are not definitive yet), we concisely summarize the issues and present our own view of the most pressing questions for further research.
Shemesh
Eyal
E
Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. eyal.shemesh@mssm.edu
Stuber
Margaret L
ML
D002908:Chronic Disease; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy