Posttraumatic stress disorder after severe traumatic brain injury

Objective: This study indexed the profile of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after severe traumatic injury to the brain. Method: Patients who sus tained a severe traumatic brain injury (N=96) were assessed for PTSD 6 mont hs after the injury with the PTSD Interview, a structured clinical intervie w based on DSM-III-R criteria. Results: PTSD was diagnosed in 26 (27.1%) of the patients. While only 19.2% (N=5) of the patients with PTSD reported in trusive memories of the trauma, 96.2% (N=25) reported emotional reactivity. Intrusive memories, nightmares, and emotional reactivity had very strong p ositive predictive values for the presence of PTSD. Conclusions: These find ings indicate that PTSD can develop after severe traumatic brain injury, Th e predominance of emotional reactivity and the relative absence of traumati c memories in patients with PTSD who suffered impaired consciousness during trauma suggest that traumatic experiences can mediate PTSD at an implicit level.