Linguistic analysis to assess medically related posttraumatic stress symptoms

The authors examined the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) i n 20 patients requiring ventilation after acute respiratory distress. The s ubjects completed a semistructured interview about their ventilation experi ence that was subject to content and linguistic analysis. Subjects also com pleted two self-report measures to assess PTSS and socioemotional adjustmen t. Subjects who endorsed PTSS were more likely to use a narrative style sug gesting emotional involvement in their recall of the stressful event. The a uthors indicate that the presence of PTSS is a common consequence of trauma tic medical experiences and that denial of distress may be an adaptive shor t-term coping strategy.