Identification and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Rescue Workers in the Marmara, Turkey, Earthquake

After the 1999 Marmara Turkey earthquake, 434 volunteer rescue workers and 154 soldiers who were control subjects completed the Questionnaire for Identification with Deceased Victims and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Identification with the Deceased as Oneself, Identification with the Deceased as a Friend, Identification with the Deceased as a Family Member, and IES-R Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal subscale scores were significantly higher in rescue workers. Identification-Self, Identification-Friend, and Identification-Family correlated with the IES-R subscale and total scores. The set of identification variables was significantly associated with group membership before, but not after, IES-R scores were controlled. Findings suggest that identification with deceased victims, not rescue work per se, is the risk factor of concern for posttraumatic stress disorder in rescue workers.