Journal of Traumatic Stress

Although exposure to a traumatic event is thought to be the main aetiological factor in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD: APA, 1987), a large amount of individual variance in the chronicity and severity of symptoms remains unaccounted for. In this paper, evidence will be reviewed for the possible mediating role of causal attributions and attributional style. It is suggested that these factors may be related to specific emotional states within PTSD and to particular coping behaviors.

A number of authors have written poignantly about the Black experience in the Vietnam war; however, very little research has addressed this topic. The present report studied race differences in preservice, stressor, and outcome variables in a community sample of 181 war veterans. Blacks reported higher levels of stressors and outcome, particularly for PTSD-related symptoms. The results suggested that the relationship between stressors and outcome can be defined by a common regression line for Blacks and Whites, and that the high symptom levels observed for Blacks in the sample were accounted for by higher levels of stressors during their war experience. The cognitive coping mode of avoidance did not conform to this pattern and showed higher levels for Blacks even controlling for other factors. Potential cultural origins of this difference were noted.

The history of European psychotraumatology shows that opposing cultural, social, economic, and political forces have influenced scientific development. Inevitably, the theories of traumatic stress reflect the spirit of the age. Several of today's controversies were already evident during World War I: the risk of reinforcing evacuation and compensation syndromes by legitimising diagnostic labels, increased somatization when the psychological nature of the trauma or symptom is not understood, and the deleterious effect of treating the individual removed from his primary group setting. Towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century the study of psychic trauma identified important intrapsychic phenomena, and, consequently, there was a neglect of the external stressor.

The intent of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to abortion clinic violence, either as a victim or witness, and the reporting of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among clinic employees. Semi-structured interviews with 71 clinic workers from eight abortion clinics in a Southeastern state were used for analyses. Findings showed that as victims, clinic workers experienced moderate forms of violence and witnessed greater variety and numbers of violent acts. Twenty-one percent of the sampled workers reported symptoms similar to the syndrome described in the DSM-IIIR/DSM-IV classification for PTSD. A multivariate analysis showed that even when controlling for significant life circumstances and stressors outside the clinic setting, witnessing violence was a significant predictor of PTSD symptomatology.

This study examined some chronic, stressful conditions and some acute, traumatic events which may place youths at risk for specific types of psychopathology. Ninety one delinquent adolescents with histories of serious and repeated crimes were assessed for their exposure to 11 different types of trauma. The subjects were also tested using measures which assess family functioning, and frequency and intensity of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Results indicated that 24% of the subjects tested met full DSM III-R criteria for PTSD. Both exposure to violence and family dysfunction were significantly associated with PTSD symptomatology. These findings suggest that juvenile offenders may constitute a high risk group for exposure to multiple types of trauma and the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms related to such exposure. This study provides a rationale for future cross-trauma research both within the juvenile offender population and between it and other identified trauma groups.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which adverse long-term health effects of World War II stress exposure were present in 3 groups of resistance veterans. The groups had been exposed to different types of war stressors: concentration camp incarceration, resistance participation within the illegal press, and a secret military organization. With the differences in war stressors as a basis, we assumed that those incarcerated in a concentration camp would display more adverse health effect compared to the resistance veterans. The findings point to a relationship between the severity of war stressors and postwar health in all 3 groups.