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PTSD Rates (ptsd + rate)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	50%
Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Does PTSD occur in sentenced prison populations?

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2007
A systematic literature review
Background,A systematic review of the literature on mental disorder in prisoners, published in 2002, made no mention of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but indicators from other studies suggest that a history of serious and chronic trauma is common among offenders. Aims,To conduct a systematic review of the literature with the specific questions: does any epidemiological study of sentenced prisoners include data on prevalence of PTSD while in prison? If so, what is the prevalence in this group? Method,Literature databases EMBASE, Medline, PsychInfo, PILOTS and SIGLE were searched. The Journal of Traumatic Stress was searched manually. Preliminary screening was conducted by reading abstracts of hundreds of papers. Ten exclusion criteria were then applied to the screened selection. Reference sections of all accessed papers were searched for any further studies. Results,One hundred and three potentially relevant papers were identified after preliminary screening. Four met all criteria for inclusion and suffered none of the exclusion criteria. PTSD rates ranged from 4% of the sample to 21%. Women were disproportionately affected. Conclusions and implications for practice,All four papers suggested that the prevalence of PTSD among sentenced prisoners is higher than that in the general population, as reported elsewhere. Overall the findings suggest a likely need for PTSD treatment services for sentenced prisoners. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Persistence of Traumatic Memories in World War II Prisoners of War

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 12 2009
(See editorial comments by Dr. Jules Rosen, 2347), on pp 234
OBJECTIVES: To assess the long-term effects of the prisoner of war (POW) experience on U.S. World War II (WWII) veterans. DESIGN: Exploratory study. SETTING: Participants were recruited through the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital; a POW reunion in Orlando, Florida; and the WWII veterans periodical, "The QUAN." PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifty-seven American military veterans who were former WWII POWs. MEASURMENTS: Participants completed a mailed survey describing their POW experiences, POW effects on subsequent psychological and physical well-being, and ways in which these experiences shaped major decisions in their lives. RESULTS: Participants from the European and Pacific theaters reported that their captivity during WWII affected their long-term emotional well-being. Both groups reported high rates of reflection, dreaming, and flashbacks pertaining to their POW experiences, but Pacific theater POWs did so at higher rates in the present than in the past. Large portions of both groups reported greater rumination on POW experiences after retirement. Finally, 16.6% of participants met the requirements of a current, clinical diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on the Mississippi PTSD scale, with PTSD rates in Pacific theater POWs (34%) three times those of European theater POWs (12%). CONCLUSION: Traumatic memories and clinical levels of PTSD persist for WWII POWs as long as 65 years after their captivity. Additionally, rumination about these experiences, including flashbacks and persistent nightmares, may increase after retirement, particularly for those held in the Pacific theater. These findings inform the current therapeutic needs of this elderly population and future generations of POWs from other military conflicts. [source]

Posttraumatic stress disorder and the perceived consequences of seeking therapy among U.S. Army special forces operators exposed to combat

JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES IN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, Issue 1 2010
Jessica M. Espinoza Psy.D.
The goal of this study was to ascertain the level of PTSD symptoms experienced by Special Forces Operators (SFOs) who have been exposed to combat and compare these rates to the PTSD rates of the general U.S. population and general military population. A secondary goal was to discover whether SFOs were aware that therapy was available to them through the U.S. Army and, if so, whether they would seek this therapy for PTSD. The last goal was to discover whether SFOs who chose not to seek therapy while still serving did so because they feared negative consequences. Data were collected from 68 SFOs who had been exposed to combat. Results indicated that SFOs are experiencing symptoms of PTSD at a rate that is higher than that of the general U.S. population and somewhat lower than that of the general military population. Also, results indicated that a large percentage of the sample would not seek treatment for PTSD due to perceived negative consequences. [source]

Changes in Diagnostic Criteria for PTSD: Implications From Two Prospective Longitudinal Studies

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2007
Zahava Solomon PhD
This study assesses differences in PTSD rates according to different sets of diagnostic criteria. Two samples have been studied: one comprised of 286 combat stress reaction (CSR) casualties and 218 non-CSR veterans from the Lebanon war (Study 1); the other of 95 ex-POWs and 101 non-POWs from the Yom Kipur war (Study 2). Participants were administered two versions of the PTSD inventory based on different Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) editions: DSM-III and DSM-IV in Study 1 and DSM-III-R and DSM-IV in Study 2. PTSD rates declined when criteria of more recent DSM editions were applied. In addition, findings clearly demonstrate the importance of the dysfunction criterion (F) in PTSD. The highly complex nature of the PTSD diagnosis is discussed, as well as the important role of dysfunction and distress. [source]