Phobias, panic, and pain in 55 survivors of road vehicle accidents

Abstract We examined 55 survivors of road vehicle accidents (RVA) with minimal injury and chronic pain physically, by structured clinical interview, by panic, phobia, anxiety sensitivity, and pain scales. Twenty-one (38.2%) of the 55 RVA survivors met DSM-III-R criteria for simple phobia with onset after RVA, and eight (38.1%) of the 21 met full criteria for current PTSD. Five (23.8%) of the 21 phobics and none of the nonphobics gave a past history of other phobia. Gender, pain location, and pain severity were similar in phobics and nonphobics. Fears were predominantly specific for RVA and, with the exception of three RVA survivors, panic occured exclusively in cars. Results on prevalence of phobias and PTSD after RVA are similar to earlier findings. The results also suggest that “accident phobia” is not similar to agoraphobia, that past anxiety disorder may predispose towards fear aquisition, but that it may not necessarily predetermine fear content.

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