Chapter 13 - PTSD and Associated Mental Health Consequences of Motor Vehicle Collisions

Abstract

The frequency with which motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) occur makes them one of the greatest causes of posttraumatic psychopathology. While the physical injury associated with severe MVC is the focus of highly sophisticated hospital care services, the psychological injury that often accompanies surviving severe MVC is mostly overlooked. This chapter establishes the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of psychopathology that occur following MVCs, outlining the course of MVC-related traumatic stress symptoms, and describing the impact of traumatic stress symptoms on the quality of life and functional status of traumatized individuals. For an MVC to be considered potentially traumatic, it must involve actual or threatened injury. This point is important in interpreting the literature because the majority of studies that have examined the prevalence of psychopathology following MVC have used injury survivors. The pretrauma, peritrauma, and posttrauma factors that are considered most predictive of posttrauma psychopathology are also reviewed.