Investigating the psychological impact of bank robbery: A cohort study

• Exposure to bank robbery appears to be especially associated with general traumatization and somatization in the acute phase and in victims present during the robbery.
• After the acute phase especially negative cognitions about self and bodily sensations appear more important in predicting general traumatization and somatization than bank robbery exposure.
• In general, bank employees appear to be at high risk of psychological distress.

Despite numerous annual bank robberies worldwide, research in the psychological sequelae of bank robberies is sparse and characterized by several limitations. To overcome these limitations we investigated the psychological impact of bank robbery in a cohort study by comparing general levels of traumatization and somatization in employees never exposed to robbery and employees exposed to robbery at different degrees and time-points, while controlling for selected risk factors of posttraumatic distress. Multivariate regression analyses showed that only the acute directly exposed robbery group which had a significantly higher score on general traumatization and somatization compared to the control group whilst controlling for other factors. In conclusion, bank robbery exposure appears to be especially associated with psychological distress in the acute phase and in victims present during the robbery. After the acute phase, other factors appear more important in predicting general traumatization and somatization in bank employees compared to exposure to robbery.