Efficacy of Single Dose IV Hydrocortisone in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Prevention

This study is designed to test the hypothesis that a single Hydrocortisone intra venous injection within 6 hours post-trauma facilitates physiological recovery thereby preventing the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the months following the event. In the absence of such treatment (i.e., under placebo conditions), we hypothesize that a greater proportion of persons would develop PTSD (i.e., fail to recover from acute effects).