Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:70-73
Copyright © 1984 by American Psychiatric Association
The traumatic aftereffects of collision at sea
A Hoiberg and BG McCaughey
To determine the psychological effects of a maritime collision, the authors
compared the performance and health of the officers and crews of the USS
Belknap (N = 336) and the USS Yarnell (N = 387) during the 3 years after
the Belknap's collision. Significantly more of the Belknap members were
hospitalized or separated from service because of neuroses, and the men who
had the highest percentage of psychiatric hospitalizations were the
uninjured men who were evacuated, returned to the ship, then flown to the
United States. Future disaster studies should evaluate the effectiveness of
crisis intervention in reducing long-term psychological impairment.
