This study reports the prevalence and correlates of posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and chronic severe pain in 295 psychiatric outpatients.
Nearly half the participants (46%) had PTSD; 40% reported chronic severe
pain; and 24% had both PTSD and chronic severe pain. The investigators
compared four groups of subjects who had both disorders, PTSD only,
chronic severe pain only, or neither disorder for factors associated
with both disorders or either disorder alone (e.g., psychiatric distress,
substance use, stressful life events, physical/sexual abuse).
Persons with both PTSD and pain were significantly different from persons
with neither disorder, and they had greater physical and psychosocial
problems. Persons with either PTSD or chronic severe pain alone were
more likely to have a chronic medical condition, higher psychiatric
distress, and more stressful life events than persons who did not have
PTSD or chronic severe pain. Mental health care providers should be
aware of the potential for both PTSD and chronic severe pain to occur
and of the many related factors in psychiatric outpatients. Villano
CL, Rosenblum A, Magura S, Fong C, Cleland C, Betzler TF. Adapted from
J Rehabil Res Dev. 2007;44(2):167-78.
PMID: 17551871
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed
Full Text: http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/07/44/2/Villano.html
Credit: PubMed, developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI) at the National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
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