A prospective examination of post-traumatic stress disorder in rape victims

✍ Scribed by Barbara Olasov Rothbaum; Edna B. Foa; David S. Riggs; Tamera Murdock; William Walsh

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 975 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.2490050309

✦ Synopsis

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related psychopathology were m m i n e d in 9.5 female rape victims beginning soon after the assault (mean = 12.64 days). Subjects were assessed weeky for I2 weeks. Ninety-four percent of women met symptomatic criteria for PTSD at Assessment I , decreasing to 65% at Assessment 4 (mean = 35 days postassault), and 47% at Assessment I2 (mean = 94 days postassault). PTSD and related psychopathology decreased shclrply between Assessments I and 4 for all women. Women whose PTSD persisted throughout the 3-month study did not show improvement after the fourth assessment; women who did not meet criteria for PTSD 3 months postassault showed steady improvement over time. This pattern was evidenced even afrer initial PTSD severiv was statistical& controlled. Moreover, PTSD status at 3 months postassault could be predicted with a high degree of accuracy by two brief self-report measures administered at the j k t assessment. The implications of the present findings and directions for future research are discussed ~~