Posttraumatic Symptoms in Japanese Bereaved Family Members with Special Regard to Suicide and Homicide Cases

The authors investigated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in Japanese bereaved family members using a questionnaire. Participants were bereaved as a result of suicide and homicide (n = 51 and 49, respectively), with natural death (n = 56) as a control; and their relationships to the dec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Death studies 2011-07, Vol.35 (6), p.525-535
Main Authors: Ogata, Kohske, Ishikawa, Takaki, Michiue, Tomomi, Nishi, Yuko, Maeda, Hitoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents - psychology
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Avoidance
Bereavement
Children
Death
Death & dying
Defense Mechanisms
Family
Family - psychology
Family Relations
Family Relationship
Female
Foreign Countries
Grief
Health technology assessment
Homicide
Homicide - psychology
Humans
Impact of Event Scale
Japan
Male
Middle Aged
Murders & murder attempts
Parents
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Psychological Patterns
Relatives
Spouses
Stress
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Suicide
Suicide - psychology
Suicides & suicide attempts
Surveys and Questionnaires
Survivors - psychology
Symptoms
Symptoms (Individual Disorders)
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The authors investigated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in Japanese bereaved family members using a questionnaire. Participants were bereaved as a result of suicide and homicide (n = 51 and 49, respectively), with natural death (n = 56) as a control; and their relationships to the deceased were parent-child (n = 79), conjugal (n = 42), and others (n = 35). With regard to the 3 main PTSD-related criteria, (a) re-experiencing symptoms were not dependent on the manner of death or the relationship to the deceased; (b) avoidance behaviors were more highly related to homicide than natural death for relatives other than parent-child and conjugal relationships; and (c) hyperarousal and maladaptation symptoms were more serious for conjugal loss. These findings suggest that avoidance behaviors in homicidal cases are more closely associated with a distant family relationship, whereas conjugal loss is traumatic, irrespective of the manner of death, often causing hyperarousal and maladaptation symptoms.
ISSN:0748-1187
1091-7683
DOI:10.1080/07481187.2011.553327