Symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Exposure to Disastrous Flooding

Abstract

This lon gi tu di nal study ex am ined symp toms of acute stress dis or der (ASD) and posttraumatic stress dis or der (PTSD) fol low ing ex po sure to threat and loss dur ing a ma jor flood. One hun dred and thirtyone per sons com pleted an ini tial sur vey from one to three months postflood as sess ing ASD symp toms and ex po sure to floodre lated threat and losses; 74 of these per sons com pleted a one-year fol low-up as sessing PTSD symp toms. Re sults showed that threat and loss were both sig nif i cantly re lated to ASD symp toms. Ex po sure to losses and ASD symp toms, but not threat, pre dicted the de vel op ment of PTSD symp toms. These re sults sug gest that stressor char ac ter is tics, such as loss and threat, may be dif fer en tially re lated to shorter and lon gerterm trauma responses. These re sults ex tend pre vi ous re search by show ing that ASD symp toms pre dict those of PTSD among di sas ter sur vi vors and that stressor char ac ter is tics to gether with acute symp toms pre dict longterm dis tress.