Cognitive dysfunctions associated with PTSD: evidence from World War II prisoners of war.
The authors aim to delineate cognitive dysfunction associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by evaluating a well-defined cohort of former World War II prisoners of war (POWs) with documented trauma and minimal comorbidities. The authors studied a cross-sectional assessment of neuropsychological performance in former POWs with PTSD, PTSD with other psychiatric comorbidities, and those with no PTSD or psychiatric diagnoses. Participants who developed PTSD had average IQ, while those who did not develop PTSD after similar traumatic experiences had higher IQs than average (approximately 116). Those with PTSD performed significantly less well in tests of selective frontal lobe functions and psychomotor speed. In addition, PTSD patients with co-occurring psychiatric conditions experienced impairment in recognition memory for faces. Higher IQ appears to protect individuals who undergo a traumatic experience from developing long-term PTSD, while cognitive dysfunctions appear to develop with or subsequent to PTSD. These distinctions were supported by the negative and positive correlations of these cognitive dysfunctions with quantitative markers of trauma, respectively. There is a suggestion that some cognitive decrements occur in PTSD patients only when they have comorbid psychiatric diagnoses.
Hart
John
J
Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2200 W. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75235, USA. jhart@utdallas.edu
Kimbrell
Timothy
T
Fauver
Peter
P
Cherry
Barbara J
BJ
Pitcock
Jeffery
J
Booe
Leroy Q
LQ
Tillman
Gail
G
Freeman
Thomas W
TW
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D047789:World War II