ABSTRACT
Traumatic events are an important source of psychological morbidity. Raphael (1986) concluded that 30-40% of those exposed to a significant disaster showed evidence of significant psychological morbidity one year later. Whereas few now doubt the impact of well publicized mass disasters such as the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise, the King’s Cross Fire and other disasters, all of which have accumulated their own literature, attention has also turned to the impact of more personal, less publicized trauma such as road traffic accidents or assaults. Mayou et al (1993) reported in adults that one year after a road traffic accident a quarter of those followed up had defined psychiatric disorder, with 11% showing evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stallard et al (1998) reported in children that one in three involved in everyday road traffic accidents was found to suffer from PTSD. This was more common in girls but was not altered by the severity of the physical injuries but more the child’s perception of the event as lifethreatening. The current best estimate of the prevalence of PTSD suggests it has a lifetime prevalence of 5% in males and 10% in females (Kessler 1993).
