EARLY AVOIDANCE OF TRAUMATIC STIMULI PREDICTS CHRONICITY OF INTRUSIVETHOUGHTS FOLLOWING BURN INJURY

The role of avoidance behavior in perpetuating the experience of intru sive thoughts among burn survivors was investigated. The Impact of Eve nts Scale (IES), which has subscales that measure the frequency of int rusive thoughts and avoidance behavior, was administered to burn survi vors (n = 23) upon discharge and four months later. Both avoidance beh avior and intrusive thoughts at discharge were significantly related t o experiencing intrusive thoughts at four months (r = 0.59, P < 0.003, r = 0.45, P < 0.03, respectively). In a hierarchical regression analy sis controlling for intrusive thoughts at discharge, avoidance behavio r continued to significantly predict intrusive thoughts at four months [B = 0.43, t(20) = 2.9, P < 0.009]. Limitations of the study and impl ications for treatment are discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd