A new study by a UCLA-based research team has found higher incidence of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients who were not given psychotherapy in the wake of natural disasters they lived through, suggesting that survivors of the tsunami and the Gulf Coast hurricanes should be given this vital medical treatment to help them fend off depression and PTSD.
Young survivors of the recent Indian Ocean tsunami, Kashmir earthquake, Gulf Coast hurricanes and other natural disasters face high risk of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression if left untreated, according to a new study by a UCLA-based research team.
“Chronic PTSD and depression can impair the psychosocial development and behavior of children and adolescents, which in turn can have a detrimental effect on their families and communities,” said lead author Dr. Armen K. Goenjian, a researcher and psychiatrist at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.