Symptom patterns associated with chronic PTSD in male veterans: new findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study.
A subsample of 255 male Vietnam veterans from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study received in-depth psychiatric diagnostic interviews. This paper focuses on the 88 veterans with a war-related onset of PTSD. Among these veterans, the avoidance cluster, especially its symptoms of numbing, was most strongly associated with chronic PTSD; less strongly but also significantly associated was the hyperarousal cluster. Further analyses show that these associations are not artifacts of the relationship of symptom patterns to prewar demographic factors (race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age at entry into Vietnam), comorbidity, treatment and compensation seeking, or probable severity of war-related trauma. We conclude that certain symptom profiles may predict enduring pathological responses to trauma and therefore provide targets for intervention efforts.
Marshall
Randall D
RD
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Turner
J Blake
JB
Lewis-Fernandez
Roberto
R
Koenan
Karestan
K
Neria
Yuval
Y
Dohrenwend
Bruce P
BP
D002908:Chronic Disease; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014729:Veterans Disability Claims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047829:Vietnam Conflict