Who Gets PTSD?: Issues of Posttraumatic Stress Vulnerability

Persons engaged in occupations that require emergency responses must frequently deal with exposure to incidents that are traumatic. Some of these persons develop posttraumatic stress reactions or full-blown posttraumatic stress disorder, while others do not. A key issue in the development of traumatic stress is vulnerability. This book draws from research and life experiences on trauma vulnerability to better understand how mental health professionals and those concerned with the psychological well-being of others may disentangle the perplexing questions of who gets PTSD, why they do, and how we may prevent or minimize this from happening. Major topics in the text include: assessing psychological distress and physiological vulnerability in police officers; personal, organizational, and contextual influences in stress vulnerability; differences in vulnerability to posttraumatic deprivation; gender differences in police work stress and trauma; trauma types, frequency of exposure, and gender differences; personal, event, and organizational influences in police stress vulnerability; vulnerability, war, and prisoner abuse; reducing trauma through personal and response management; psychological vulnerability among international aid workers; prolonged separation and family vulnerability; risk communication and equilibrium theory; a statistical model for measuring trauma vulnerability; and traumatic stress in protective services professions. What is clear from the chapters that comprise this volume is that vulnerability should be conceptualized as a multilevel phenomenon, and the text identifies the contributing levels of analysis that provides the foundation for this process. The text will serve as a valuable resource to professionals in law enforcement, emergency and paramedical services, and the military, as well as to psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors.