Post-traumatic stress disorder and terrorism

Abstract

Purpose of review Terrorist attacks are increasing in different parts of the world. The psychiatric consequences of terrorist attacks, particularly post-traumatic stress disorders, are often underrated. Recent terrorist attacks, particularly the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA, focused attention on post-traumatic stress disorder. This review examines the prevalence rates and characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder after terrorist attacks. Recent findings At least 28-35% of people exposed to a terrorist attack may develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Whereas persons directly exposed to terrorist attacks have a greater risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, the secondary effects of vicarious exposure on people not directly exposed are significant. Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder have higher healthcare utilization and medication use. More than 40% of people across the USA experienced substantial symptoms of stress after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The rates of acute post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among residents of lower Manhattan, New York, were twice the baseline rate 5-8 weeks after the attacks. The presence of pre-existing stressors, levels of social support, female sex, and Hispanic ethnicity were important predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder. Disaster-related television viewing could be harmful for children. The role of psychological debriefing in the prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder is questionable. Summary Most suffers of post-traumatic stress disorder are reluctant to see mental health professionals. Primary care physicians are best suited to identify and manage individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder. There is a need to train primary care practitioners in the identification and management of the psychiatric consequences of trauma and terrorism.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 79 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.