Citation

Başoglu M, Kılıç C, Salcioğlu E, Livanou M. J. Trauma. Stress 2004; 17(2): 133-141.

Affiliation

Section of Trauma Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, University of London, London, United Kingdom. m.basoglu@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1023/B:JOTS.0000022619.31615.e8

PMID

15141786

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression 14 months after the earthquake in Turkey in 2 randomly selected samples from the epicenter (n = 530) and a suburb of Istanbul 100 km from the epicenter (n = 420). The rates of PTSD and depression comorbid with PTSD were, respectively, 23 and 16% at the epicenter and 14 and 8% in Istanbul. The strongest predictor of traumatic stress symptoms was fear during the earthquake, whereas predictions with female gender, past psychiatric illness, damage to home, participation in rescue work, past trauma, and loss of close ones were significant but weak. Our findings suggest that devastating earthquakes have long-term psychological effects. Psychological interventions reducing fear may improve PTSD in survivors.

Language: en