Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with:
(1) intrusive thoughts
(2) avoidance (avoiding reminders of the accident)
(3) arousal symptoms
Risk factors associated with poor psychological health at 3 months:
(1) subjective perception of life threat during the burn accident
(2) reliance on avoidance (blocking thoughts by engagement in other activities) as a major coping strategy
(3) early onset (presence during initial hospitalization) of avoidance symptoms, anxiety and/or depression
Increased arousal symptoms were associated with
(1) perception of life threat
(2) increased age
Increased intrusive thoughts were associated with:
(1) perception of life threat
(2) coping by venting emotions (opposite to self-control)
Decreased intrusive thoughts were associated with:
(1) coping by self-control (restraining expression of emotions and not letting other know how one feels)
Limitations:
• Only 34 burn patients met criteria for evaluation with only 7 of these women.
