Background
Observing horrible scenes may lead to PTSD, also it is possible that observing these scenes on TV may lead to PTSD, however it is controversial.
Materials and methods
Using a cluster sampling procedure, 300 students from the Kerman schools were selected. A PTSD symptoms check list along with the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were used to detect the symptoms 3 months after the Bam quake. All of them witnessed the Bam earthquake scenes on TV for at least one hour.
Results
Result indicated that 195 were without any symptoms, 40 had the re-experience of the events in the form of repetitive remembering, 20 had avoidant behaviors, 19 had showed irritability, and 16 had detachment, and 10 had the full picture of the PTSD.
Conclusions
Considering the prevalence of the PTSD across children, care should be taken regarding observation of the horrible scenes by children.
References
Aulagnier M, Verger P, Rouillon F: Efficacy of psychological debriefing in oreventing PTSD. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2004, 52 (1): 67-79. 10.1016/S0398-7620(04)99023-2.
Bland SH, Valoroso L, Stranges S: long-term follow-up of psychological distress following earthquake experiences among working Italian males. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2005, 193 (6): 420-423. 10.1097/01.nmd.0000165297.49452.41.
Taylor M, Jenkins K: The psychological impact of September 11 terroism on Australian inpatients. Australas psychiatry. 2004, 12 (3): 253-265.
Cao H, Mcfarlane AC, Klimidus S: Prevalence of psychiatric disorder following the 1988 Yun Nan (China) earthquake - the first 5-month period. Soc psychiatry Epidemiolo. 2003, 38 (4): 204-212. 10.1007/s00127-003-0619-2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Khosropour, F., Farahmand, M. & Yazdani, R. Prevalence of PTSD in the Kerman schools students witnessing the Bam earthquake scenes on TV. Ann Gen Psychiatry 9 (Suppl 1), S84 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-9-S1-S84
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-9-S1-S84