Post-traumatic stress disorder in the community: an epidemiological study

Abstract

SYNOPSISPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Among 2985 subjects, the lifetime and six month prevalence figures for PTSD were 1·30 and 0·44 % respectively. In comparison to non-PTSD subjects, those with PTSD had significantly greater job instability, family history of psychiatric illness, parental poverty, child abuse, and separation or divorce of parents prior to age 10. PTSD was associated with greater psychiatric co-morbidity and attempted suicide, increased frequency of bronchial asthma, hypertension, peptic ulcer and with impaired social support. Differences were noted between chronic and acute PTSD on a number of measures, with chronic PTSD being accompanied by more frequent social phobia, reduced social support and greater avoidance symptoms.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed college students: The role of trauma-related cognitions, gender, and negative affect

“…Specifically, epidemiologic studies consistently demonstrate higher rates of full and partial PTSD in females than in males (Breslau et al 1991 Breslau et al 1997Davidson et al, 1991;Helzer et al, 1987;Kessler et al, 1995Kessler et al, 1999Norris, 1992;Stein et al, 1997) despite the fact that males are characterized by higher rates of trauma exposure. Thus, we included participants' gender in the analyses both as a unique predictor of PTSD as well as a control variable.…”

“…Although many people experience trauma, only a subset of these individuals subsequently develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Lifetime prevalence rates for PTSD range from 1% to 12.3% (Breslau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991;Davidson, Hughes, Blazer, & George, 1991;Kessler et al, 1995;Resnick et al, 1993) and current rates of PTSD range from .4% to .9% (Andrews et al, 2001;Perkonigg et al, 2000). PTSD tends to have a chronic course, with as many as 40% continuing to exhibit significant symptoms of the disorder 10 years after its onset (Kessler et al, 1995).…”

Inventorying stressful life events as risk factors for psychopathology: Toward resolution of the problem of intracategory variability.

“…For example, a search of the terms life events, life change, stressful life events, and life stress (or a combination of these terms) using PsycINFO (http://www.apa.org/psycinfo) shows an increasing rate of publications on these topics, from 292 in the decade of 1967 to 1976, to 2,126 in 1977 to 1986, to 4,269 in 1987 to Breslau, 2002;Brown & Harris, 1989;Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974;Grant, Compas, Thurm, McMahon, & Gipson, 2004;Gunderson & Rahe, 1974;Paykel, 1974;Rahe & Arthur, 1978 Tor, 1998). The common characteristic of these traditional checklists for research, whether focusing on usual situations or extreme situations, is that they consist of rather broad categories of events (e.g., divorce) rather than detailed descriptions of individual events (e.g., a divorce after a period of marital conflict over the infidelity of one's spouse).Although the emphasis has usually been on recent events in relatively brief intervals of time, such as 6 months to 1 year, a few studies have attempted to assess "traumatic" events (usually life-threatening or otherwise threatening to physical integrity), other major events (e.g., spousal bereavement), or both over the life course of the respondents (Breslau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991;Breslau, Davis, Peterson, & Schultz, 1997;Breslau et al, 1998;Davidson, Hughes, Blazer, & George, 1991;Kessler, Davis, & Kendler, 1997;Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, & Nelson, 1995;Norris, 1992;Resnick, Kilpatrick, Dansky, Saunders, & Best, 1993;Turner & Lloyd, 1995. These attempts at lifetime coverage of major events are consistent with Meyer's conception of a life chart of fundamentally important environmental incidents and have the potential of providing more comprehensive information about (a) whether the events recur or persist over time to the extent of becoming ongoing difficulties (Brown & Harris, 1978) or chronic stressors (e.g., Lepore, 1997); (b) the role of the events singly and in relation to earlier stressful events in both onset and course of disorder; and (c) reciprocal relations between the occurrence of some types of events that are not completely independent of the behavior of the individual and the occurrence or recurrence of episodes of disorder (Grant et al, 2003(Grant et al, , 2004Hammen, 2005;…”

Internalizing and Externalizing Subtypes in Female Sexual Assault Survivors: Implications for the Understanding of Complex PTSD

“…Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be the most common psychiatric syndrome to develop following trauma (Green, Lindy, Grace, & Leonard, 1992;Kulka et al, 1990), but other conditions frequently co-occur with the disorder, or develop independently of it, including other anxiety disorders and the unipolar depressive, substance-related, and personality disorders (Breslau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991;Breslau, Davis, Peterson, Schultz, 2000;Davidson, Hughes, Blazer, & George, 1991;Golier et al, 2003;Helzer, Robins, & McEvoy, 1987;Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995;Kulka et al, 1990;Orsillo et al, 1996). Considerable interindividual variability exists in patterns of comorbidity and other manifestations of posttraumatic distress.…”