The British Journal of Psychiatry (2006) 188: 278-283. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.104.008102
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Inconsistency in reporting potentially traumatic events

URS HEPP, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich

ALEX GAMMA, PhD

Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich

GABRIELLA MILOS, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich

DOMINIQUE EICH, MD, VLADETA AJDACIC-GROSS, PhD, WULF RÖSSLER, MD and JULES ANGST, MD

Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich

ULRICH SCHNYDER, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Correspondence: Dr Urs Hepp, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich, Culmannstrasse 8, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Tel: +41 44255 5280; e-mail: urshepp{at}bluewin.ch

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background Research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relies mainly on self-reports of exposure to trauma and its consequences.

Aims To analyse the consistency of the reporting of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) over time.

Method A community-based cohort, representative of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, was interviewed at the ages of 34–35 years (in 1993) and 40–41 years (in 1999). A semi-structured diagnostic interview, including a section on PTSD, was administered.

Results Of the 342 participants who attended both interviews, 169 reported some PTE (1993, n=110; 1999, n=120). In 1999, 56 participants (33.1%) reported for the first time PTEs that actually occurred before 1993, but which had not been reported in the 1993 interview. In total, 68 participants (40.2%) who had reported a PTE in 1993 did not report it in 1999. The overall frequency of inconsistent reporting was 63.9%.

Conclusions The high level of inconsistency in the reporting of PTEs has implications for therapy as well as for research.




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re. Inconsistency in reporting potentially traumatic events
Jane Herlihy, et al.
BJP Online, 19 Jul 2006 [Full text]
Re: re. Inconsistency in reporting potentially traumatic events (Authors’ reply)
Urs Hepp, et al.
BJP Online, 2 Aug 2006 [Full text]