Psychiatric Sequelae after Traumatic Injury: The Pittsburgh Regatta Accident

Accidental injury in a child is sudden, often violent, and emotionally stressful, particularly when it is accompanied by hospitalization and rehabilitation. The following case report examines the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric illnesses in five children involved in a boating accident during the 1988 Pittsburgh Regatta and considered severity of injury as well as complicating psychosocial stressors in the development of the disorders. The presence of symptoms was not related to the nature or extent of the injury but was instead the by-product of additional factors, including level of family stress, coping styles of the patient and family, positive psychiatric history in the child and/or family, and experience in effectively dealing with stressful episodes in the past.