Media exposure to earthquake-related content in its aftermath as a risk factor for acute stress disorder
Journal Title: Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 2
Abstract
Background: Introduced in DSM-IV, acute stress disorder (ASD) is a psychiatric diagnosis characterised by severe anxiety, dissociation, intrusive thoughts, and other symptoms occurring within one month of experiencing a traumatic event. Research indicates that ASD may place individuals at increased risk of developing chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is growing evidence that increased media exposure to traumatic events is a risk factor for the development of posttraumatic symptomatology. Aims: We hypothesised that in the aftermath of a natural disaster, excessive exposure to television and Internet coverage might be a risk factor for ASD. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design in a sample of 300 medical and nursing college students exposed to an earthquake, ASD was assessed with the Stanford Acute Stress Disorder Questionnaire (SARSQ) and media exposure by an interview to capture exposure to earthquake-related news via television and Internet. Results: Thirty six students developed ASD (12%). The odds of greater exposure to earthquake-related content via television was 1.93 times more (95% CI 1.02-3.66, p-value=0.042) and Internet 2.28 times more (95% CI 1.18-4.41, p-value=0.015) in students who developed ASD than those who did not. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that excessive exposure to earthquake-related media content via television and Internet in its aftermath is associated with a statistically significant risk of developing ASD.
Authors and Affiliations
Harshavardhan Sampath, Geeta Soohinda, Arunima Sharma, Sanjiba Dutta
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP362254
- DOI 10.5958/2394-2061.2018.00032.0
- Views 95
- Downloads 0
A comparative study of nature and types of hallucination across different kinds of psychosis
Introduction: Hallucination is a fundamental psychiatric symptom often regarded as a hallmark of psychosis. It can be found in schizophrenia, other psychoses (including delusional disorder, acute and transient psychosis,...
Stress, anxiety, and depression among individuals with epilepsy
Background: Epilepsy is a disorder characterised by recurrent seizures of cerebral origin, presenting with episodes of sensory, motor, or autonomic phenomenon with or without loss of consciousness. Patients with epilepsy...
Psychological well-being and weight efficacy lifestyle of adults with obesity
Background and aim: Obesity is a growing phenomena and various psychological constructs need to be addressed in obesity as psychological aspects play an important role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Psych...
Exploring the role of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in predicting burnout among police officers
Objective: Prior research on police practices has highlighted the plethora of operational and organisational stressors that police officers face throughout their careers. Work-related demands, acute stress, and lack of o...
Neurological soft signs in psychoses. II: an explorative study of structural involvement amongst drug naive first episode patients
Background: The aims and objective of the study was to find out the different structural involvement in the three study groups, namely brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform psychosis, and schizophrenia as reflected...