Citation

Rynearson EK. Br. J. Psychiatry 1995; 166(4): 507-510.

Affiliation

University of Washington, Department of Psychiatry, Seattle, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7795924

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This brief report presents initial findings from a prospective descriptive study of adults after the homicide of a family member. Within the first year of bereavement, the responses and risk factors associated with unrecovered grief and post-traumatic stress disorder in subjects who requested or refused supportive psychotherapy were compared. METHOD: Fifty-two adult members of 237 families contacted within three months of a homicide attended a specialised out-patient clinic (32 requested, and 20 refused, supportive therapy) after a structured interview and completion of measures of grief (TRIG), trauma (RIES and DES), and death imagery. RESULTS: Only two risk factors (childhood history of sexual abuse and lack of religious faith) were associated with treatment seeking. Treatment-seeking subjects also scored significantly higher (P < 0.001) on all measures of grief, trauma, and intrusive re-enactment imagery of the dying. CONCLUSION: Adults who seek therapy after the homicide of a family member are highly reactive to all measures of trauma, grief, and death imagery.

Language: en