Posttraumatic stress disorder and substance abuse: use of research in a clinical setting.
The goal of the present investigation was to evaluate whether the process of assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in substance abuse/dependence inpatients (N = 95) as part of a research protocol influenced the diagnostic assessment conducted by clinical staff. The prevalence of current crime-related PTSD (CR-PTSD) observed with a research interview was 40% (n = 38), whereas the rate of current CR-PTSD documented in (the same) patients' discharge summaries was 15% (n = 14). An even lower CR-PTSD prevalence rate of 8% (n = 5) was obtained from a new sample of patient discharge summaries (N = 59) collected after the cessation of the research project. On chart intake reports, clinical staff documented a history of sexual and/or physical assault in approximately one-half of these patients, but PTSD was not evaluated. PTSD appears to be under-diagnosed by clinical staff in patients with substance use disorders.
Dansky
B S
BS
Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Charleston 29425, USA.
Roitzsch
J C
JC
Brady
K T
KT
Saladin
M E
ME
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015982:Bias; D015897:Comorbidity; D003415:Crime; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*