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Vehicle Accident News Article
Car Accident Victims Increasingly Diagnosed with PTSD
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDayNews) -- People who have survived serious
car accidents have a lot in common with soldiers, a new book says:
They can both develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The book, After the Crash: Psychological Assessment and Treatment
of Survivors of Motor Vehicle Accidents says car accidents are a leading
cause of PTSD in the general population.
PTSD is a common psychological ailment, affecting as many as 5 million
Americans every year, according to the National Institute of Mental
Health. During times of war that number is even higher. Symptoms of
PTSD include reliving the traumatic incident often through flashbacks
or nightmares. Other symptoms include sleep problems, depression,
anxiety, irritability and anger.
In this updated version of the book, psychologists Edward Blanchard,
from the University of Albany, and Edward Hickling, in private practice
in Albany, N.Y., add information from a new study of motor vehicle
accident survivors and PTSD.
For the latest study, the researchers followed 161 car crash survivors
for five years after the accident. All of the study participants were
at least slightly injured and sought medical treatment after their
accident.
In this group, 110 were diagnosed with PTSD, and of those with PTSD,
the researchers report that 60 percent also were diagnosed with major
depression.
Almost all -- 95 percent -- of the crash survivors were anxious when
driving and many avoided certain driving situations, such as night
or highway driving, after their accidents.
J. Gayle Beck, a professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo
who specializes in treating PTSD after a motor vehicle accident, says
that's common behavior for people who have lived through a serious
accident.
"These people tend to refuse to drive or are unbelievably nervous
drivers," Beck says.
And, she says, a serious accident doesn't necessarily have to be one
where someone is seriously injured. Any accident that really scares
someone or makes them believe they might die has the potential to
cause PTSD, she says, recalling a patient whose car rolled over numerous
times.
Remarkably, he wasn't seriously injured, but during the accident,
he had truly believed he was going to die, and those memories haunted
him.
"There's a perception that automobile accidents aren't extraordinary
events," says Beck. "These studies [in the book] are drawing
attention to the fact that many times in a crash you see incredibly
horrifying things and people are convinced they are going to die.
These things can easily set the stage for PTSD."
PTSD, says Beck, is not always easy to diagnose. Many of the symptoms
aren't easily seen by outsiders. The most common, she says, is having
recurrent and intrusive thoughts about the accident. This may make
you appear to others as distracted or not able to concentrate. She
says people suffering from PTSD often are clearly hyperactive and
have trouble sleeping.
One clear sign that someone may need help is a refusal to drive, or
if they must drive, very nervous or altered driving behavior.
While some of these things are common right after an accident, Beck
says if any of these symptoms last more than six months, it's definitely
time to get treatment. Ideally, though, treatment should begin earlier,
somewhere between one and six months, Beck recommends.
According to the book, and to Beck, cognitive behavioral therapy is
helpful, as is supportive psychotherapy. Beck says researchers are
experimenting with new ways to treat PTSD, and in her lab, she is
currently using virtual reality driving simulations as a safe way
to get people with PTSD driving again.
Volume #2091
Copyright 2003 Insurance Information Institute
III Abstracts
Lawyers Weekly USA
Source: Government News Posting http://www.4woman.gov/news/dec094.htm
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