Cognitive bias in acute stress disorder

Cognitive bias was investigated in survivors of motor vehicle accidents with either acute stress disorder (ASD; n = 17) or no ASD (n = 17). Participants completed the acute stress disorder interview, the Beck depression inventory, the Beck anxiety inventory, the impact of event scale, and a probability questionnaire (PQ) and a cost questionnaire (CQ) within four weeks of their accident. ASD participants exaggerated both the probability of negative events occurring, and the adverse cost of those events more than non-ASD participants. IFS-Avoidance scores were the only significant predictors of both PQ and CQ scores. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of cognitive errors in posttraumatic adjustment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.