Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal problems may negatively affect crews on long-duration space missions. These problems stem from crewmember tension and its displacement to the outside monitoring personnel and from disruptions in crew cohesion and unclear leadership roles. HYPOTHESES: We hypothesized that crew tension and dysphoria would transiently increase following stressful events and be greater in the second half of a mission; that cohesion would be less during the second half of a mission; that tension and dysphoria would be displaced to the outside monitoring personnel; and that high levels of leader support and control would produce high levels of cohesion. METHODS: We tested these hypotheses during a 135-d Mir space station simulation study in Moscow. At weekly intervals, the three crewmembers completed items from two group climate questionnaires, a mood questionnaire, and a log of stressful events. RESULTS: Contrary to expectations, there was significantly (p < 0.05) more total mood disturbance and tension during the first 9 wks than during the subsequent 10 wks of the simulation. Although levels of cohesion remained the same over time, cohesion scores dropped at a significantly greater rate during the last third of the seclusion. There was evidence for the displacement of tension and dysphoria to the outside monitoring personnel. There were significant correlations in the predicted direction between leader support and control and crew cohesion, as well as evidence of status leveling in the mission commander. CONCLUSIONS: Crewmember tension, cohesion, and leadership are important issues affecting people working in secluded environments, and they need to be studied further in space

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of emergency services personnel related to acute dissociative responses at the time of critical incident exposure, a phenomenon designated 'peritraumatic dissociation.' METHOD: The authors studied 157 rescue workers who responded to the Nimitz Freeway collapse during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as 201 rescue workers who were not involved in that disaster. Demographics, level of critical incident exposure, perceived threat at the time of exposure, personality attributes (assessed by the Hogan Personality Inventory), coping strategies (assessed by the Ways of Coping Questionnaire), and locus of control were related to subjects' scores on the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire. RESULTS: According to univariate tests, the subjects with clinically meaningful levels of peritraumatic dissociation were younger; reported greater exposure to critical incident stress; felt greater perceived threat; had lower scores on the adjustment, identify, ambition, and prudence scales of the Hogan Personality Inventory; had higher scores on measures of coping by means of escape-avoidance, self-control, and active problem solving; and had greater externality in locus of control. Linear modeling with multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that greater feelings of perceived threat, coping by means of escape-avoidance, and coping by means of self-control were associated with a greater likelihood of being in the peritraumatic dissociation group, above and beyond age and exposure to stress. CONCLUSIONS: Rescue workers who are shy, inhibited, uncertain about their identity, or reluctant to take leadership roles, who have global cognitive styles, who believe their fate is determined by factors beyond their control, and who cope with critical incident trauma by emotional suppression and wishful thinking are at higher risk for acute dissociative responses to trauma and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder

A three-group quasi-experimental design contrasted the responses of rescue workers to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake Interstate 880 freeway collapse (n = 198) with responses to critical incident exposure of Bay Area Controls (n = 140) and San Diego Controls (n = 101). The three groups were strikingly similar with respect to demographics and years of emergency service. The I-880 group reported higher exposure, greater immediate threat appraisal, and more sick days. The three groups did not differ on current symptoms. For the sample as a whole EMT/Paramedics reported higher peritraumatic dissociation compared with Police. EMT/Paramedics and California road workers reported higher symptoms compared with Police and Fire personnel. Nine percent of the sample were characterized as having symptom levels typical of psychiatric outpatients. Compared with lower distress responders, those with greater distress reported greater exposure, greater peritraumatic emotional distress, greater peritraumatic dissociation, greater perceived threat, and less preparation for the critical incident

A 10-week open-label trial of fluvoxamine was conducted for male Vietnam combat veterans with chronic PTSD. Subjects were excluded if they met full current criteria for panic disorder or agoraphobia, and lifetime criteria for psychosis, bipolar disorder, or organic mental syndrome. Repeated MANOVA was performed to determine change over time. Fluvoxamine was well tolerated; side effects were observed primarily early in treatment with headache, insomnia, sedation, and gastrointestinal distress being most frequent. Fluvoxamine was effective for treating the core intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms of PTSD. Large treatment effects were seen by 4-6 weeks, and maintained at 10 weeks. The magnitude of change was greater than has been previously reported for antidepressant treatment of male Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD

This study identified predictors of symptomatic distress in emergency services (EMS) personnel exposed to traumatic critical incidents. A replication was performed in 2 groups: 154 EMS workers involved in the 1989 Interstate 880 freeway collapse during the San Francisco Bay area earthquake, and 213 counterparts from the Bay area and from San Diego. Evaluated predictors included exposure, social support, and psychological traits. Replicated analyses showed that levels of symptomatic distress were positively related to the degree of exposure to the critical incident. Level of adjustment was also related to symptomatic distress. After exposure, adjustment, social support, years of experience on the job, and locus of control were controlled, 2 dissociative variables remained strongly predictive of symptomatic response. The study strengthens the literature linking dissociative tendencies and experiences to distress from exposure to traumatic stressors

This pilot study examined: the prevalence of childhood trauma in a sample of male veteran substance abuse inpatients, and the relationship of childhood trauma to substance abuse in this sample, controlling for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Forty-six subjects were interviewed using the Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID)-P Psychoactive Substance Use Disorders module, the Addiction Severity Index, and the SCID-NP-V PTSD module. Seventy-seven percent of subjects had been exposed to severe childhood trauma. Fifty-eight percent had lifetime PTSD. The total number of lifetime substance dependence disorders was strongly positively associated with total childhood trauma exposure. This relationship remained significant after controlling for demographics, family history of alcohol problems, combat exposure, and lifetime PTSD, including combat-related PTSD. A substantial number of these subjects reported exposure to childhood trauma, which in turn was related to multiple substance dependence. This has important implications for the natural history and prevention of multiple substance dependence disorders

Irritability is often a problem for patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We describe two cases that illustrate the use of lithium in the treatment of veterans with PTSD who complained of serious problems with irritability or angry outbursts. These cases are discussed in the context of evidence that lithium may be useful in other patients with disorders of impulse control. The evidence linking disorders of anger and impulse control to a dysregulation in neurotransmitter regulation, particularly in serotonergic pathways, supports a psychopharmacologic approach to treatment. These findings should lead to further study of the role of lithium in the treatment of this symptom complex in patients with PTSD