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This chapter considers the various postdisaster social dynamics in considerable depth, with particular focus on social support. Social support is most often referred to as social interactions that provide individuals with actual assistance and embed them into a web of social relationships perceived to be loving, caring, and readily available in times of need. The chapter summarizes existing empirical research on the mobilization of support in the aftermath of disasters; this is the research that descends most directly from the early observations of Kutak, Fritz, Barton, and other disaster sociologists. The chapter also summarizes research on deterioration of support in the aftermath of disasters, an observation that emerged later in disaster studies, but just as prominently, that sense of community was sometimes destroyed by catastrophic events. It describes the impact of received and perceived social support on the mental health of disaster survivors.
Two alternative models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear to represent the disorder's latent structure better than the traditional Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) three-factor PTSD model. The present study examines the impact of using these structural models for the diagnosis of lifetime PTSD while retaining the DSM-IV PTSD's six-symptom diagnostic requirement.
Method
Data were gathered from large-scale, epidemiological datasets collected with adults (National Comorbidity Survey Replication) and adolescents (National Survey of Adolescents). Two alternative, empirically supported four-factor models of PTSD were compared with the DSM-IV three-factor PTSD diagnostic model.
Results
Results indicated that the diagnostic alterations resulted in substantially improved structural validity, downward adjustments of PTSD's lifetime prevalence (roughly 1 percentage point decreases in adults, 1–2.5 percentage point decreases in adolescents), and equivalent psychiatric co-morbidity and sociodemographic associations.
Conclusions
Implications for modifying PTSD diagnostic criteria in future editions of DSM are discussed.
There are concerns regarding the validity of combat exposure reports of veterans seeking treatment for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within US Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
Aims
To verify combat exposure history for a relevant sample through objective historical data.
Method
Archival records were reviewed from the US National Military Personnel Records Center for 100 consecutive veterans reporting Vietnam combat in a Veterans Affairs PTSD clinic. Cross-sectional clinical assessment and 12-month service use data were also examined.
Results
Although 93% had documentation of Vietnam war-zone service, only 41% of the total sample had objective evidence of combat exposure documented in their military record. There was virtually no difference between the Vietnam ‘combat’ and ‘no combat’ groups on relevant clinical variables.
Conclusions
A significant number of treatment-seeking Veterans Affairs patients may misrepresent their combat involvement in Vietnam. There are implications for the integrity of the PTSD database and the Veterans Affairs healthcare system.
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