Correlates of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Flood Victims

The aftermath of tragic and traumatic events such as wars, violence and natural disasters like floods are often accompanied with psychological symptoms that persist in some people, long after the stressful events are over. According to the DSM IV, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is caused by a situation in which a person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event that involved actual or threatened death, or serious injury or threat to the physical integrity of self or others that provoked a response that involved intense fear, helplessness or horror (APA, 2005). In other words, the likelihood of developing PTSD is increased if the traumatic event involved danger or violence from other people such as assault, rape, wartime experiences and flood (Yehuda & Le Deoux, 2007).