Traffic accidents induced Posttraumatic stress disorder in humans
CHEN Guo-Liang1, CUI Hong2, XU Peng1,XU Jun-Yang1, JIANG Zhong-Dong1,ZHANG Lei1, DING Wei-Yan1, LI Yan-Song2,3,4
1 215th Clinical Division, 406th Hospital of PLA, Dalian 116041; 2 PLA General Hospital Medical Psychology Department; 3Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023; 4 Institute of Advanced studies in Humanities and social sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023; 5The Research Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing 210023
Abstract:Traffic accidents are considered as one of the most important causes of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is usually accompanied by other psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Even after the accident has passed for a while, symptoms of PTSD still seem to persist or recap and to be easily transitioned into chronic phases, thereby bringing economic burden on the patients’ family and the society. In this article, we review the epidemiology of traffic accidents-induced PTSD, discuss main clinical symptoms and factors influencing these symptoms, summarize important cognitive deficits in relation to PTSD induced by traffic accidents and the possible effect of these deficits on functional outcomes, and point to the future direction in this field.