PTSD rates in Army families surpass those of veterans.
Atlanta--Significant others and family members experience posttraumatic stress disorder at rates that exceed those of military service members of current and previous wars.With the most conservative estimates on the Psychopathology Checklist, 56 of 273 partners, parents, siblings, and other family members studied have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Brenda Nash, Ph.D., said in an interview at her poster during the annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
This 21% rate is more than three times the reported 6% PTSD prevalence in Afghanistan veterans and well above the 13% rate for Iraq War veterans (US Army Med. Dep.J. 2008;Jul-Sep:7-17). The prevalence is also more than twice the 9.4% estimate for the general adult population (J. Traum. Stress 2003; 16:495-502).
"We never expected [the rate] would be twice as high. We thought [it] would be comparable," said Dr. Nash.
A lack of recognition and services to address family and significant others' mental health symptoms may explain this higher rate of PTSD, compared with military personnel. "My hypothesis is that rates are so much higher because ... we prepare our troops before they leave but we don't prepare our families."
Military training facilities and VA and community health centers should screen and treat significant others and family members for PTSD, added Dr. Nash, who is on the psychology faculty at Spalding University, Lexington, Ky.
Family members of deployed military personnel "typically don't have support," Dr. Nash said, adding that they might also feel guilty about their symptoms given what their family member might be experiencing.
Lead author Ms. Rebecca K. Stahl, Dr. Nash, and their colleagues recruited participants through Yahoo and MSN forums for significant others of military service members.
The participants completed a stressor-specific PTSD Checklist and provided demographic information through an online survey. They ranked degree of bother during the previous month for 17 possible PTSD symptoms on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). Sleep issues, concentration, isolation, irritability/anger, and feeling upset at being reminded of the service member's trauma were endorsed most often. "They see images [of the war] on TV," Dr. Nash said.
People were diagnosed with PTSD if they had a total Checklist score of 50 or more, combined with moderate or higher endorsement of certain DSM-IV TR symptoms: at least one re-experiencing symptom, three avoidance symptoms, and two hyperarousal symptoms. With this dual definition, 55 (20%) of significant others were diagnosed with PTSD.
The study cohort included significant others of service members deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, and World War II. Dr. Nash said the study combined all significant others and family members and that it might be interesting to assess if parents and children react differently to indirect exposure to trauma.
Further investigation of PTSD in significant others is warranted, and if the findings are replicated, it would lend credence to inclusion of a vicarious trauma diagnosis in the DSM-5, she said.
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| Title Annotation: | ADULT PSYCHIATRY |
|---|---|
| Author: | McNamara, Damian |
| Publication: | Clinical Psychiatry News |
| Date: | Mar 1, 2010 |
| Words: | 490 |
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