Focuses on the results of a research conducted by Laurel Franklin,
research associate in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at
Brown University, on psychiatric conditions after the September 11, 2001
U.S. terrorist attacks. Number of psychotherapy patients who developed
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); Percentage of PTSD patients who
felt their emotional health deteroriated after the attacks.
By
Lori Baker, published on March 01, 2002
COPING
Rebounding from September 11 was especially difficult for people
with preexisting psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). One in three psychotherapy patients developed PTSD-like
symptoms after the attacks, compared with only 13 percent of general
medical outpatients, according to Laurel Franklin, Ph.D., a research
associate in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown
University.
Forty-one percent of patients with PTSD felt that their emotional
health deteriorated after the 11th. Franklin was surprised to find that
patients who knew victims personally--some 3 percent of the 308
respondents--were not at increased risk of developing immediate
psychiatric symptoms.
"This was contrary to our hypothesis and contrary to the
literature," says Franklin, who assessed patients two weeks and four
months after the attacks and will continue to monitor subjects for signs
of PTSD.
Interestingly, a Duke University survey of 2,273 people found no
evidence of increased post-traumatic stress in respondents with a
personal connection to the attacks.
Franklin will present her findings at the American Psychiatric
Association annual meeting in May.
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