Only聽some people who go through a聽traumatic event get post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but for those聽who do, the condition can be devastating. A quick skin test could help spot those most at risk so they can be given support earlier.
People with PTSD can get nightmares and flashbacks after a traumatic event. Rebecca Hinrichs at聽Emory University in Georgia and her聽colleagues suspected that people鈥檚 reactions soon after the event might shed light on their risk of聽developing the condition.
To find out, the researchers interviewed 144 people who attended a hospital emergency department after a traumatic experience like being in a car crash. While questioning each person for 5聽minutes about their聽experience, the team placed electrodes on the palm of their hand to monitor their sweat level, which is聽commonly used to measure how alert someone is to a threat.
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People who sweated the most during the interview were more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD six months later. However, the test wasn鈥檛 perfect: it was good for ruling out people who wouldn鈥檛 develop the condition, but it wrongly classed some聽people as being likely to develop PTSD who didn鈥檛, says Hinrichs.
She says that isn鈥檛 too much of a problem because the kinds of talking therapy that would be recommended would help people deal with their experience regardless.
But Roger Pitman at Harvard Medical School says wrongly telling people they are at risk of PTSD could have downsides. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if聽the harm that would be done by alarming these people is equal to the benefit from treatment.鈥� This test is a useful first step, but we need more accurate measures, says Pitman.
The work was presented at a meeting of the .
