scholarly journals Media Exposure and the Risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following a Mass traumatic Event: An In-silico Experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salma M. Abdalla ◽  
Gregory H. Cohen ◽  
Shailesh Tamrakar ◽  
Shaffi Fazaludeen Koya ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Tv Watching ◽  
Ptsd Prevalence

Introduction: Following mass traumatic events, greater exposure to traditional media like television (TV) about the event is associated with higher burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, we know little about how social media exposure, combined with other media sources, shapes the population burden of PTSD following mass traumatic events.Materials and Methods: We built a microsimulation of 1,18,000 agents that was demographically comparable to the population of Parkland and Coral Springs, Florida that experienced the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. We parametrized the model using data from prior traumatic events and built an internal social network structure to facilitate the estimation of community PTSD prevalence following exposure to TV and social media coverage of the shooting.Results: Overall, PTSD prevalence in the community due to exposure to TV coverage of the shooting was 3.1%. Shifting the whole population's hours of TV watching to the lower half of the population distribution decreased PTSD prevalence to 1.3% while increasing TV watching to the upper half of the distribution increased the prevalence to 3.5%. Casual (i.e., viewing posts) social media use in addition to exposure to TV coverage increased PTSD prevalence to 3.4%; overall prevalence increased to 5.3% when agents shared videos related to the shooting on social media.Conclusion: This microsimulation shows that availability and exposure to media coverage of mass traumatic events, particularly as social media becomes more ubiquitous, has the potential to increase community PTSD prevalence following these events. Future research could fruitfully examine the mechanisms that might explain these associations and potential interventions that can mitigate the role of media in shaping the mental health of populations following traumatic events.

scholarly journals Experiences with traumatic events, consequences and care among people with visual impairment and post-traumatic stress disorder: a qualitative study from The Netherlands

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e041469
Author(s):  
Alida J van der Ham ◽  
Hilde P A van der Aa ◽  
Peter Verstraten ◽  
Ger H M B van Rens ◽  
Ruth M A van Nispen
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Visual Impairment ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic

ObjectiveHaving a visual impairment is known to be associated with an increased vulnerability to (potentially) traumatic events. Little is known about how people with visual impairment experience and process such events. This qualitative study aimed to provide more insight into experiences with traumatic events, consequences of traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related care among people with visual impairment and PTSD.MethodsEighteen persons with visual impairment and (a history of) PTSD were interviewed. Among them were 14 women and 4 men aged between 23 and 66 years. Recruitment of participants was done through health professionals from two low-vision service centres and a patient association for people with eye diseases and visual impairment in The Netherlands. Interviews focused on experiences with (1) traumatic events, (2) consequences of traumatic events and (3) PTSD-related care. Thematic content analysis of interview data was performed using ATLAS.ti. The COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research (COREQ) checklist was used to check for completeness and transparency of the study. Data were collected between 2018 and 2020.ResultsThe most commonly reported traumatic events were sexual and physical abuse. Many participants experienced that their impairment had negatively affected their acceptance by others, independence and self-esteem, increasing their vulnerability for traumatic events. Additionally, having a visual impairment negatively impacted participants’ ability to respond to situations and aggravated post-traumatic stress reactions. Existing treatments seem suitable for people with visual impairment when accommodated to the impairment.ConclusionsHaving a visual impairment may affect traumatic events and post-traumatic stress reactions, particularly by contributing to low self-esteem, problems in social interactions and a lack of visual information. Insights from this study provide starting points for adapting pretraumatic and post-traumatic care to the needs of people with visual impairment.

Prevention of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arieh Y. Shalev ◽  
Anna C. Barbano ◽  
Wei Qi ◽  
Charles R. Marmar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Trauma Exposure ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) follows an exposure to traumatic events and as such its onset and early development are better charted then those of most other mental disorders. It is not surprising, therefore, that major efforts have been dedicated to preventing its occurrence before, during and after trauma exposure. This chapter discusses the rationale, desirability, feasibility and outcome of interventions designed to prevent PTSD. Several efficient interventions have been documented. Barriers to their early implementations, however, greatly reduce their effectiveness and require urgent attention.

scholarly journals Post-traumatic stress disorder, resilience and vulnerability

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 369-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha S. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
War Experiences

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), recognised as a diagnostic entity in 1980, was originally associated with combat or war experiences. It has since been recognised that it is prevalent in any population exposed to traumatic events. Although much has been written about the management of PTSD, the concepts of resilience and vulnerability have not received the same attention. This article reviews the conceptualisation, epidemiology and comorbidities of PTSD and highlights the factors underlying vulnerability and conveying resilience.

scholarly journals Association between traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder: results from the ESEMeD-Spain study

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Olaya ◽  
J. Alonso ◽  
L. Atwoli ◽  
R. C. Kessler ◽  
G. Vilagut ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
World Health ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Unexpected Death ◽  
Post Traumatic

Background.The relative importance of traumatic events (TEs) in accounting for the social burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could vary according to cross-cultural factors. In that sense, no such studies have yet been conducted in the Spanish general population. The present study aims to determine the epidemiology of trauma and PTSD in a Spanish community sample using the randomly selected TEs method.Methods.The European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD)-Spain is a cross-sectional household survey of a representative sample of adult population. Lifetime prevalence of self-reported TEs and lifetime and 12-month prevalence of PTSD were evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Reports of PTSD associated with randomly selected TEs were weighted by the individual-level probabilities of TE selection to generate estimates of population-level PTSD risk associated with each TE.Results.Road accident was the most commonly self-reported TE (14.1%). Sexual assault had the highest conditional risk of PTSD (16.5%). The TEs that contributed most to societal PTSD burden were unexpected death of a loved one (36.4% of all cases) and sexual assault (17.2%). Being female and having a low educational level were associated with low risk of overall TE exposure and being previously married was related to higher risk. Being female was related to high risk of PTSD after experiencing a TE.Conclusions.Having an accident is commonly reported among Spanish adults, but two TE are responsible for the highest burden associated with PTSD: the unexpected death of someone close and sexual assault. These results can help designing public health interventions to reduce the societal PTSD burden.

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