Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:46:18.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acute stress response: a comparison of head injured and non-head injured patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Richard A. Bryant  and
Allison G. Harvey
Richard A. Bryant*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales and Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Allison G. Harvey
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales and Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Richard A. Bryant, School Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Acute stress responses were investigated in head injured (N = 38) and non-head injured (N = 38) motor vehicle accident victims immediately following their trauma. Results indicated that amnesia of the traumatic event was associated with less acute post-traumatic stress, intrusive symptoms, perceived injury, and fear of future risk. A proportion of head injured patients reported intrusive and avoidance symptoms despite being amnesic of their trauma. Findings are discussed in terms of the differential post-traumatic adjustment of head injured and non-head injured traumatized patients.

Type
Brief Communications
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , July 1995 , pp. 869 - 873
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alves, W., Macciocchi, S. N. & Barth, J. T. (1993). Postconcussive symptoms after uncomplicated head injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 8. 48–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (1993). Definition of mild traumatic brain injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 8, 86–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn. revised. APA: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn.). APA: Washington DC.Google Scholar
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (1990). The Abbreviated Injury Scale. AAAM: Des Plaines, IL.Google Scholar
Creamer, M., Burgess, P. & Pattison, P. (1992). Reaction to trauma: a cognitive processing model. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 101, 452–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giles, G. M. & Clark-Wilson, J. (1993). Brain Injury Rehabilitation: A Neurobehavioural Approach. Chapman & Hall: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N. & Alvarez, W. (1979). The Impact of Events Scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine 14, 209–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N., Kaltreider, N. & Alvarez, W. (1980). Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 37, 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janet, P. (1925). Psychological Healing, vols. 1 and 2. Macmillan: New York.Google Scholar
McFarlane, A. C. (1988). The longitudinal course of post-traumatic morbidity: the range of outcomes and their predictors. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 176, 30–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacMillan, T. M. (1991). Post-traumatic stress disorder and severe head injury. British Journal of Psychiatry 159, 431–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macciocchi, S. N., Reid, D. B. & Barth, J. T. (1993). Disability following head injury. Current Opinion in Neurology 6, 773–777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayou, R. A., Simkin, S. & Threlfall, J. (1991). Effects of road traffic accidents on driving behaviour. Injury 22, 365–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayou, R. A., Bryant, B. M. & Duthie, R. (1993). Psychiatric consequences of road traffic accidents. British Medical Journal 307, 647–651.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Middleboe, T., Andersen, H. S., Birket-Smith, M. & Friis, M. L. (1992). Minor head injury: impact on general health after 1 year. A prospective follow-up study. Acta Neurologica Scandinavia 85, 5–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Persinger, M. A. (1992). Neuropsychological profiles of adults who report ‘sudden remembering’ of early childhood memories: implications for claims of sex abuse and alien visitation/abduction experiences. Perceptual and Motor Skills 75, 259–266.Google ScholarPubMed
Shalev, A. Y. (1992). Post-traumatic stress disorder among injured survivors of a terrorist attack. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180, 505–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solomon, Z., Mikulincer, M. & Benbenistry, R. (1989). Combat stress reactions: clinical manifestations and correlates. Military Psychology 1, 35–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R. & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-trait Anxiety Inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press: Palo Alto, CA.Google Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G. & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using Multivariate Statistics. Harper and Row: New York.Google Scholar
van der Kolk, B. A. & van der Hart, O. (1989). American Journal of Psychiatry 146, 1530–1540.Google Scholar
Watson, C. G., Juba, M. P., Manifold, V., Kucala, T. & Anderson, P. (1991). The PTSD interview: rationale, description, reliability, and concurrent validity of a DSM-III-R based technique. Journal of Clinical Psychology 47, 179–188.3.0.CO;2-P>CrossRefGoogle Scholar