Citation

Holmes EA, Creswell C, O'Connor TG. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry 2007; 38(4): 474-490.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JK, UK. emily.holmes@psych.ox.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.003

PMID

18023425

Abstract

Threatening intrusive images are central to posttraumatic stress disorder. It has been suggested that intrusive imagery in the context of a sense of threat leads to the development and persistence of posttraumatic stress symptoms. This study investigates London school children's (N=76; age 10-11 years) self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to viewing the attacks of September 11, 2001 on television. Assessments were made at two time points. A minority of participants reported moderate-severe symptoms with functional impairment at 2 months (14.5%) and 6 months (9.2%) after viewing the September 11 events. After controlling for symptom stability, persistent symptoms were associated with peri-traumatic factors, notably perceiving that one's life was in danger. The combined effect of intrusive imagery and peri-traumatic life threat was associated with symptom persistence. Assessments of intrusive image content via checklist and free-report indicated that the images were directly related to September 11 and were fairly stable over time. Implications for treating children's intrusive images following stressful events are explored.

Language: en