POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER FOLLOWING MINOR AND SEVERE CLOSED-HEAD INJURY - 10 SINGLE CASES

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was found to occur after minor o r severe closed head injury in 10 single cases which are reported in d etail. They were drawn from 312 cases of closed head injury who were r eferred for neuropsychological assessment or neurorehabilitation. All cases which had been given both diagnoses are presented. Information w as collected retrospectively from case notes and reports. It is argued that a continuum of experience, which represents the entirety of an e vent, is not necessary for PTSD to occur, but that a 'window' of real or imagined experience which results from loss of consciousness and po st-traumatic amnesia after closed head injury need not prevent the sym ptoms of PTSD from arising, although they may make them less likely an d the phenomenon of the dual diagnoses relatively rare. The issue of w hether PTSD found following closed head injury is a subclassification of PTSD is raised.