Effect of extreme stress on the mental health of patients with mild traumatic brain injury surviving Wenchuan earthquake / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the interaction between the extreme stress and mild traumatic brain injury in the patients surviving Wenchuan earthquake.Methods Forty survivors in Wenchuan earthquake were selected for the psychological status survey 2-30 days after the disaster,among them 20 survivors were suffering from mild traumatic brain injury,and the remainders were in normal physical conditions.The Symptom Checklist-90(SCL-90),which consisted of 90 items with 5 grades for each item(0-4 grade,grade zero as none and grade 4 as severe),including 9 symptom factors,was adopted to perform the evaluation for all the subjects in both groups,and the subscales were compared.Results Five subscales of SCL-90,including somatization,depression,anxiety,hostility and fear,which averaged 2.12?0.50,1.83?0.60,1.99?0.40,1.80?0.70 and 2.20?0.8,respectively,were significantly increased in mild traumatic brain injury group than that in control group(P0.05).Conclusions Mild traumatic brain injury occurred among survivors of severe earthquakes is strongly associated with psychological problems.A higher incidence of psychological disorder in survivors of earthquake with mild traumatic brain injury indicates that one must be cautious when attributing a health problem to mild traumatic brain injury,since the post-traumatic stress disorder and depression may be the primary problem.The high-risk population with psychological obstacle consists of the survivors with mild traumatic brain injury,and the interactions of both psychological stress and traumatic brain injury may lead to more complex clinical symptoms,so psychotherapy should be emphasized in the treatment of patients with mild traumatic brain injury.