@article{ref1,
title="Posttraumatic stress symptoms in London school children following September 11, 2001: an exploratory investigation of peri-traumatic reactions and intrusive imagery",
journal="Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry",
year="2007",
author="Holmes, Emily A. and Creswell, Cathy and O'Connor, T. G.",
volume="38",
number="4",
pages="474-490",
abstract="Threatening intrusive images are central to posttraumatic stress disorder. It has been suggested that intrusive imagery in the context of a sense of threat leads to the development and persistence of posttraumatic stress symptoms. This study investigates London school children's (N=76; age 10-11 years) self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to viewing the attacks of September 11, 2001 on television. Assessments were made at two time points. A minority of participants reported moderate-severe symptoms with functional impairment at 2 months (14.5%) and 6 months (9.2%) after viewing the September 11 events. After controlling for symptom stability, persistent symptoms were associated with peri-traumatic factors, notably perceiving that one's life was in danger. The combined effect of intrusive imagery and peri-traumatic life threat was associated with symptom persistence. Assessments of intrusive image content via checklist and free-report indicated that the images were directly related to September 11 and were fairly stable over time. Implications for treating children's intrusive images following stressful events are explored.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0005-7916",
doi="10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.003"
}