THE ACUTE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT ON SURVIVORS FOLLOWING A TRAIN ACCIDENT

Sixty-six passengers surviving a collision of two trains were investig ated concerning relevant background data, degree of personal injury, e xperience of a threat to life, symptoms and problems immediately after the accident, and thoughts about difficulty in coping. The most obvio us impact on the survivors was the experience of being close to death. One result of this was that they developed a new coping strategy to m inimize emotional pain. Some survivors also suffered problems of ''re- living'' the accident. This is important for the coping process. The p rocess includes psychological integration of the accident as an import ant life event. The findings indicate that ''re-living'' of the accide nt through nightmares and intrusive thoughts is responsible for proble ms in carrying out ordinary tasks. The observations are in accordance with those made after other types of accidents and disasters.