This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Difede, J. Articles by Yurt, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Difede, J. Articles by Yurt, R. Related Collections Consultation Psychiatry PTSD Stress and Coping

Acute Stress Disorder After Burn Injury: A Predictor of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

From the Department of Psychiatry and William Randolph Hearst Burn Center, The New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY.

Address reprint requests to: JoAnn Difede, The New York Presbyterian Hospital, 525 E. 68th Street, Box 200, New York, NY 10021. Email: jdifede{at}med.cornell.edu

OBJECTIVES: The principal goals of this study were to determine whether ASD predicted chronic PTSD and whether dissociation is more characteristic of the acute-trauma period than PTSD symptoms.

METHODS: Eighty-three hospitalized adult burn patients were assessed with structured interviews and self-report measures within 2 weeks of injury and again at least 6 months postburn.

RESULTS: Nineteen percent had ASD. Dissociative symptoms were not more common or more severe than PTSD symptoms. Thirty-six percent had chronic PTSD. While ASD predicted chronic PTSD, meeting the symptom criteria for PTSD within 2 weeks postburn also predicted chronic PTSD.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the inclusion of an ASD diagnosis in the DSM, which would allow the diagnosis of symptoms in the first month posttrauma as a psychiatric disorder but questions whether dissociation is more characteristic of the acute trauma period than the PTSD symptom clusters.

Key Words: acute stress disorder, • burn injury, • posttraumatic stress disorder, • trauma.

Abbreviations: PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder;; ASD = acute stress disorder;; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. A. Fauerbach, J. McKibben, O. J. Bienvenu, G. Magyar-Russell, M. T. Smith, R. Holavanahalli, D. R. Patterson, S. A. Wiechman, P. Blakeney, and D. Lezotte Psychological Distress After Major Burn Injury Psychosom Med, June 1, 2007; 69(5): 473 - 482. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]