Effects of 9/11-related posttraumatic stress disorder on problem alcohol use among World Trade Center health registry enrollees
Item
-
Title
-
Effects of 9/11-related posttraumatic stress disorder on problem alcohol use among World Trade Center health registry enrollees
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:ebd198139466:10808
-
identifier
-
10992
-
Creator
-
Welch, Alice,
-
Contributor
-
Nicholas Freudenberg | Luisa N. Borrell
-
Date
-
2011
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Public health | Clinical psychology | 9/11 | Alcohol | PTSD
-
Abstract
-
As a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, thousands of individuals experienced traumatic events. Although the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after 9/11 is well known, little is known about how those affected have coped with their posttraumatic stress symptoms. Alcohol use has been described as both a coping strategy and a form of self-medication used by individuals to reduce the effects of mental health conditions, such as PTSD. While literature on the consequences of 9/11 terrorist attacks on problem drinking is limited, the existing body of findings to date is consistent with other disasters, showing an association between PTSD and problem drinking.;Data from the World Trade Center Health Registry, the largest registry of individuals directly exposed to an urban disaster, were used to examine the association between PSTD and alcohol use. The study found that 16% of enrollees were identified as having probable PTSD on its first survey (2003--04) and 19% on its second survey (2006--07). At the second survey, 29.3% of respondents reported problem drinking, a category combining binge drinking and/or heavy drinking and 48.6% reported non-problem drinking. This study showed that survivors of complex disasters with PTSD are at increased risk for problem drinking. Furthermore, it shows that the association between PTSD and problem drinking varies by age, race/ethnicity and gender and post-disaster experiences.;This study also showed that populations living in dense urban areas who are directly exposed to disasters face higher risks of having mental health problems than other studies reported for the general population living in the affected area. Despite the fact that the events of 9/11 were unique, other complex emergencies that expose large numbers of people to a variety of traumatic events are not. As such, it is crucial that public health practitioners, particularly those working in disaster planning and mental health, include screening for increases in alcohol use and problem drinking as part of post-disaster psychological evaluations and ensure that mental health and alcohol treatment services are available in the period following a disaster.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
D.P.H.
-
Program
-
Public Health
