Effect of Depression on Recovery from PTSD

Abstract

It has been suggested that the treatment strategy needs to be reviewed and changed if depression occurs in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We analyzed data extracted from the Marmara Epidemiological Survey (MES) which had examined 683 survivors at 3 years after a devastating earthquake. Fifty three cases (40.5%) out of the 131 cases with PTSD had also been diagnosed with MDD. Comorbid PTSD and MDD group has significantly lower rates of recovery from PTSD in comparison to PTSD without MDD (26.4% vs. 47.4% respectively). Rates of past psychiatric disorder and past traumatic experience were significantly more frequent among the comorbid group. Moreover, comorbidity of PTSD and MDD was clearly associated with greater psychological distress, more severe PTSD, and diminished perceived social support. Past psychiatric disorder, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Scale (MSPSS) total scores succeeded in predicting the comorbidity of PTSD and MDD significantly.

A Chinese Herbal Formula to Improve General Psychological Status in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial on Sichuan Earthquake Survivors

“…At baseline, the nine SCL factors and three global indices were higher than the norm in these earthquake-related PTSD subjects, suggesting that earthquake-related PTSD is accompanied by poor GPS. These findings are consistent with those reported by other investigators [3,[59][60][61][62][63].…”

Factors in Mental Health Problems among Japanese Dialysis Patients Living in Heavily Damaged Prefectures Two Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake

“…However, it has been widely claimed that depression is the most common mental health problem among dialysis patients; this is not only because dialysis patients may have experienced multiple difficulties at home and work, for example, fatigue and sexual dysfunction, but also due to multiple stressors such as dietary constraints and dependency upon treatment [54]. Previous studies have reported that rates of comorbid depression among participants with PTSD were over 40% [30,34,55]. The rate of comorbid depression among participants with PTSD in this sample (23.1%) was lower than that found in other studies of disaster survivors.…”

“…Tracy et al [28] suggested that PTSD and depression might be different predictors. Additionally, there are high comorbidity rates between PTSD and depression, and other mental disorders have been reported [29,30], and the presence of depressive disorders in patients with PTSD has been associated with greater functional impairment [31][32][33][34]. However, little is known about risk factors involved in comorbidity [32,34].…”

Depression Suppresses Treatment Response for Traumatic Loss–Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Active Duty Military Personnel

“…One longitudinal study of civilians found that, following a traumatic event, higher reported levels of depression symptoms at each time point (measured at 1 week, 1 month, and 4 months) were related to a worsening of PTSD symptoms at the next time point (King, King, McArdle, Shalev, & Doron‐LaMarca, ). Follow‐up data from a large epidemiological study found that, among survivors of a large earthquake who had PTSD, individuals with comorbid MDD were less likely to recover from PTSD 3 years later (26.4% recovery rate) than those without MDD (47.4% recovery rate; Tural, Önder, & Aker, ).…”