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Can Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Be Prevented?

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Abstract

This chapter gives an insight in the possibilities and limitations of the prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). An elaboration upon the diagnosis, criteria, onset and prevalence demonstrates the enormous impact of PTSD. Prevalence rates vary between countries and with the intensity of missions, but are lower in non-US Western countries. The risk factors for PTSD are well documented, as well as relationships between PTSD and an individual’s psychological, biological, and social functioning. Less research is focused on protective factors for PTSD. Although resilience is an important protective factor for early prevention, current prevention strategies based on this concept are not very effective. The time frame after the trauma (golden hours) is important for applying psychological and pharmacological preventing strategies. It is not clear yet what kind of prevention will be effective in the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sookermany et al. 2015.

  2. 2.

    Whetham 2013.

  3. 3.

    Olff et al. 2004.

  4. 4.

    http//www.stress.org/military/. Accessed 2 March 2016.

  5. 5.

    Weerts 2008.

  6. 6.

    http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/12/14/court-netherlands-failed-its-veterans-needing-ptsd-treatment-after-lebanon/. Accessed 11 March 2016.

  7. 7.

    https://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-prevention. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  8. 8.

    https://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-prevention. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  9. 9.

    Matthews 2008.

  10. 10.

    https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2010/08/6001/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd-prevention-military. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  11. 11.

    Friedman 2013.

  12. 12.

    http://www.dsm-5-nl.org/documenten/artikel/33/De-Posttraumatische-Stressstoornis-in-de-DSM-5 30 maart 2015. Accessed 2 March 2016.

  13. 13.

    http://www.dsm-5-nl.org/documenten/artikel/33/De-Posttraumatische-Stressstoornis-in-de-DSM-5 30 maart 2015. Accessed 2 March 2016.

  14. 14.

    http://www.dsm-5-nl.org/documenten/artikel/33/De-Posttraumatische-Stressstoornis-in-de-DSM-5 30 maart 2015. Accessed 2 March 2016.

  15. 15.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  16. 16.

    Zohar et al. 2011; Tehrani 2011.

  17. 17.

    Kessler et al. 2005.

  18. 18.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  19. 19.

    Burbiel 2015.

  20. 20.

    De Jongh and Arts 2004.

  21. 21.

    De Vries and Olff 2009.

  22. 22.

    Richardson et al. 2010.

  23. 23.

    Hoge et al. 2004; Grieger et al. 2006.

  24. 24.

    http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG720.html. Accessed 2 March 2016.

  25. 25.

    Burbiel 2015.

  26. 26.

    Hines et al. 2014.

  27. 27.

    Jones et al. 2006; Engelhard et al. 2007.

  28. 28.

    McDonald and Calhoun 2010.

  29. 29.

    Engelhard et al. 2007.

  30. 30.

    Litz et al. 2009; Richardson et al. 2010; Pietrzak et al. 2012.

  31. 31.

    Jones et al. 2006; Iversen et al. 2008; Hotopf et al. 2006.

  32. 32.

    Milliken et al. 2007.

  33. 33.

    Bliese et al. 2007.

  34. 34.

    Pietrzak et al. 2012.

  35. 35.

    Litz et al. 2009.

  36. 36.

    Richardson et al. 2010.

  37. 37.

    Other traumatic events can also lead to PTSD, such as fire, natural disaster, mugging, robbery, car accident, plane crash, torture, kidnapping, life-threatening medical diagnosis, terrorist attack, and other extreme or life-threatening events.

  38. 38.

    Bartone et al. 1998.

  39. 39.

    Pietrzak et al. 2012.

  40. 40.

    Hoge et al. 2004; Pietrzak et al. 2012.

  41. 41.

    Hoge et al. 2004.

  42. 42.

    Mulligan et al. 2010.

  43. 43.

    Iversen et al. 2008; Rona et al. 2009.

  44. 44.

    Buckman et al. 2011; Rona et al. 2009.

  45. 45.

    http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2014/Rona-2014a.pdf. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  46. 46.

    Vasterling et al. 2010; Milliken et al. 2007.

  47. 47.

    Hoge 2004; Iversen et al. 2008; Leardman et al. 2009.

  48. 48.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  49. 49.

    Ozer et al. 2003.

  50. 50.

    Bourque 2012.

  51. 51.

    James et al. 2013.

  52. 52.

    Roderigues and Renshaw 2010; Bourque 2012.

  53. 53.

    Britt et al. 2004.

  54. 54.

    Posttraumatic growth or benefit finding is a cognitive process that involves finding purpose and meaning in one’s suffering and thus refers to positive personal changes resulting from coping with a traumatic event, Wood et al. 2012.

  55. 55.

    Brewin et al. 2000; Ozer et al. 2003.

  56. 56.

    Vogt et al. 2008.

  57. 57.

    Pietrzak et al. 2009; James et al. 2013; Han et al. 2014.

  58. 58.

    Op den Buijs et al. 2010.

  59. 59.

    Vasterling et al. 2010.

  60. 60.

    Pietrzak et al. 2009; Dickstein et al. 2010; Han et al. 2014.

  61. 61.

    Vasterling et al. 2010; Rona et al. 2006 and 2009.

  62. 62.

    Thomas et al. 2011; Bartone 2006; Pietrzak et al. 2009; Siebold 2006.

  63. 63.

    Bourque 2012.

  64. 64.

    Bartone 2006; Pietrzak et al. 2009.

  65. 65.

    https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2010/08/6001/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd-prevention-military. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  66. 66.

    Kobasa 1979.

  67. 67.

    Bartone 2006; Escolas et al. 2013.

  68. 68.

    Bartone 2006; Escolas et al. 2013.

  69. 69.

    Eid and Morgan 2006.

  70. 70.

    Schok et al. 2010; Skomorovsky and Sudom 2011; Skomorovsky and Stevens 2013; Sudom et al. 2014.

  71. 71.

    Bliese and Castro 2003.

  72. 72.

    See for example the websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs, http://www.va.gov/. Accessed 5 July 2016.

  73. 73.

    https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/ehc/products/403/1444/PTSD-prevention-executive-130327.pdf. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  74. 74.

    https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/ehc/products/403/1444/PTSD-prevention-executive-130327.pdf. Accessed 10 March 2016.

  75. 75.

    Rose et al. 1999; Bryant et al. 2005; Sijbrandij et al. 2006.

  76. 76.

    Bartone 2006; Escolas et al. 2013.

  77. 77.

    Taft et al. 2011.

  78. 78.

    Reivich et al. 2011.

  79. 79.

    Next to the CSF, the US launched the Mater Resilience Training (MRT) in 2009. The purpose of the MRT course is to teach NCO’s a set of skills and techniques that build resilience and that they can, in turn, teach to other soldiers.

  80. 80.

    Cornum et al. 2011; Griffith and West 2013.

  81. 81.

    https://thewinnower.com/papers/49-a-critical-examination-of-the-u-s-army-s-comprehensive-soldier-fitness-program, Accessed 23 March (2016).

  82. 82.

    Escolas et al. 2013.

  83. 83.

    Zohar et al. 2009.

  84. 84.

    Rose et al. 2002.

  85. 85.

    Klein et al. 2003.

  86. 86.

    Rose et al. 2002.

  87. 87.

    Klein et al. 2003; Rose et al. 2002.

  88. 88.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  89. 89.

    Klein et al. 2003.

  90. 90.

    Zohar et al. 2009; Burbiel 2015.

  91. 91.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  92. 92.

    Zohar et al. 2011.

  93. 93.

    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01713556, Accessed 23 March 2016.

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op den Buijs, T. (2016). Can Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Be Prevented?. In: Beeres, R., Bakx, G., de Waard, E., Rietjens, S. (eds) NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016. NL ARMS. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_9

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