Search

This article examined the relationship between traumatic stress and death anxiety among community residents who lived near woodlands in which an aircraft had crashed in Coventry, England. The hypothesis was that there would be a high level of impact of the crash experienced by residents and that the residents would experience psychological distress. It was also hypothesized that the impact of the crash and distress were associated with death anxiety. Eighty-two residents were interviewed for the study. They were asked to complete the Impact of Event Scale, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the Death Anxiety Scale. The results showed that Coventry residents were found to experience intrusive thoughts and display avoidance behavior. The residents' intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior were significantly more severe than one group of Horowitz's standardized samples (i.e., the medical students), but not significantly different from another group (i.e., the stress clinic samples). Fifty-seven percent scored at or above the GHQ cutoff point, which meant that they were considered to be psychiatric cases. Community residents scored significantly lower in death anxiety than the standardized high-death anxiety patients but no differently from the standardized control patients. Correlations were found between the impact of the event, psychological distress, and death anxiety.

A study of 106 children from varied ethnic backgrounds, 42 European, 45 Asian and 19 Afro-Caribbean, reveals that health services were used primarily for epilepsy, hearing and vision, cardiovascular, mobility, and ear nose and throat problems. Ethnicity did not have an effect on the pattern of contact with health professionals and, although two thirds of the children had special needs such as hyperactivity, only 18% received treatment from psychological experts.

The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective experience of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among female Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used. Seven female students participated in the study, two engaged in biting and scratching, and three in cutting. The majority of them indicated negative attitudes towards NSSI and saw no particular meaning attached to it. However, they all persisted with their behaviours, which suggested that they were unable to stop. Students found themselves in a paradoxical situation whereby although they saw no real benefit of NSSI, they still engaged in it to cope with distress. Feelings characterised by this distress were about entrapment and issues with academia, intimacy, loneliness, insecurity, negative self-worth, regulating distressing emotions, increasing positive physical sensations, healing oneself, and feeling alive. The experience of hurting themselves persistently for these female students symbolised their struggle with academic or relationship difficulties, self-acceptance, emotional regulation and survival without self-injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma can lead to trauma centrality and affect levels of interpersonal sensitivity and psychiatric co-morbidity. Whether a coexisting relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma centrality can influence levels of interpersonal sensitivity and psychiatric co-morbidity among university students from Kazakhstan is unknown. To investigate the impact of the aforementioned co-existing relationship on interpersonal sensitivity and psychiatric co-morbidity among Kazakh university students. 597 students (F = 428, M = 169) completed questionnaires measuring PTSD, psychiatric co-morbidity, interpersonal sensitivity, and trauma centrality. 28%, 32% and 40% met the criteria for full, partial and no-PTSD, respectively. Latent Class Analysis revealed a three-class solution: Class 1 (the altered-self group) with a low level of PTSD but a high level of trauma centrality, Class 2 (the traumatized-self group) with high levels of PTSD and trauma centrality and Class 3 (the low symptom group) with low levels of PTSD and trauma centrality. There were significant differences in the levels of interpersonal sensitivity and psychiatric co-morbidity across three classes. There are individual differences in the display of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and trauma centrality. These differences can influence interaction with others and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of challenging behaviour among subjects with learning disabilities in an English health district. Subjects' disabilities included incontinence, lack of communication skills, and need of assistance with domestic activities, feeding, washing, and dressing. Some also had physical impairments. The most common behaviours were hyperactivity and irritability and the most common psychiatric disorders included severe anxiety, affective disorder, and adjustment disorder.

The aim was to identify changes in communication skills and behaviour disorder of 15 clients with learning difficulties 6 mo. and 1 yr. after they moved from large- to small-scale accommodations. Clients were allocated into a group of 6 with profound multiple learning difficulties, a preverbal group of 5, and a verbal group of 4. Communication skills were measured using the Preverbal Communication Schedule, and behavioural disorder was measured using the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist. Analysis showed that from the baseline to one year follow-up, there was a significant increase from baseline in social withdrawal by the clients with multiple difficulties but that there were improvements in communication skills of both preverbal and verbal clients. No control group was involved.

Responses of 146 medical students in the final academic year on the Attitudes Towards Psychiatry Questionnaire were obtained before and after the clerkship in psychiatry. While there were no significant differences between the 57 men and 89 women, students' image of psychiatrists did not change but several initially held attitudes about psychiatric practice and training improved following the clerkship.

This study examined the interrelationship between child abuse, emotional processing difficulties, alexithymia, and psychological symptoms with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms from past traumas adjusted among Chinese adolescents. Eight hundred adolescents completed questionnaires measuring the preceding psychological constructs. After controlling for PTSD from past trauma, structural equation modeling showed that child abuse correlated with emotional processing difficulty which correlated with alexithymia. In turn, alexithymia correlated with psychological symptom severity. To conclude, child abuse can affect psychological health among Chinese adolescents. This relationship, however, is influenced by the degree to which processing distressing emotions and getting in touch with internal feelings is avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the inter-relationship between trauma centrality, self-efficacy, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric co-morbidity among a group of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, and whether gender would moderate the mediational effect of self-efficacy on the impact of trauma centrality on distress. Seven hundred and ninety-two Syrian refugees completed the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire-28, Centrality of Event Scale and Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that 52% met the cutoff for PTSD. Trauma centrality was positively correlated with PTSD, psychiatric co-morbidity and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was negatively correlated with PTSD only. Gender did not moderate the mediational effect of self-efficacy on the path between trauma centrality and distress outcomes. To conclude, following exposure to traumatic events, more than half reported PTSD. Perception of the future and identity construction was affected. Signs of psychological distress were evident, alongside resilience, regardless of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether child abuse was associated with psychiatric co-morbidity in a group of Chinese adolescents, and whether this association would be mediated by emotional processing difficulties and moderated by the severity of PTSD from other traumas in the past. Four hundred seventy-four adolescents participated in the study. They completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, General Health Questionnaire-28, the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, and Emotional processing scale-25. The results showed that after adjusting for the total number of traumatic events and how long ago the most traumatic event occurred, child abuse was associated with psychiatric co-morbidity. This association was not moderated by the severity of PTSD from past traumas but mediated by emotion processing difficulties. To conclude, adolescents who experience child abuse can develop emotional processing difficulties which in turn impact on psychiatric symptoms. Experience of past trauma does not influence these psychological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In literature, the effect of age on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is inconclusive; the effect on flood-related PTSD is particularly unclear. Little is known on distorted cognitions among flood victims, although cognition distortions and PTSD have been linked among victims of other traumas. Aims: To investigate: (1) whether flood-related PTSD, psychiatric co-morbidity and cognitive distortions would differ according to age and (2) distinctive patterns of association between the preceding variables for different age groups. Methods: One hundred and fifty-four flood victims of different ages completed standardized questionnaires measuring PTSD, psychiatric co-morbidity and cognitive distortions. Results: Adolescents and young adults reported significantly fewer PTSD, psychiatric co-morbidity and distorted cognition symptoms than people who were older. Preoccupation with danger and hopelessness were associated with both outcomes for adolescents, people in their thirties and middle-aged/older people. For young adults, helplessness was associated with PTSD; hopelessness and preoccupation with danger with psychiatric co-morbidity. Conclusions: Adolescents and young adults buffered against flood-related psychological distress better than older people. Distorted cognitions related to distress outcomes differently depending on age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]