Prevalence and Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among National Guard/Reserve Component Service Members Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan

The resilience construct has received a great deal of attention as a result of the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The discourse about resilience, especially the promise of promoting it and mitigating risk for serious post-traumatic negative outcomes among service members and veterans, is hopeful and encouraging. Remarkably, most service members exposed to horrific war trauma are not incapacitated by the experience. Yet, resilience is elusive and fleeting for many veterans of war. In this paper, I address some of the complexities about resilience in the context of exposure to war stressors and I offer some assumptions and heuristics that stem from my involvement in the dialogue about resilience and from experiences helping prevent post-traumatic stress disorder among active-duty service members with military trauma. My goal is to use my observations and applied experiences as an instructive context to raise critical questions for the field about resilience in the face of traumatic life-events.

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Causes and Risk Factor of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adult Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Psychiatry International ◽

10.3390/psychiatryint2040032 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 410-423

Author(s):

Abdullah AlRefaie ◽

Christopher Dowrick

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Qualitative Assessment ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

Causes And Risk Factors ◽

Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Objectives: To assess the causes and risk factors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adult asylum seekers and refugees. To explore whether the causes and risk factors of PTSD between male and female adult refugees/asylum seekers are different. Study design: Systematic review of current literature. Data Sources: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar up until February 2019. Method: A structured, systematic search was conducted of the relevant databases. Papers were excluded if they failed to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Afterwards, a qualitative assessment was performed on the selected papers. Results: 12 Studies were included for the final analysis. All papers were either case studies/reports or cross-sectional studies. Traumatic events experienced by refugees/asylum seekers are the most frequently reported pre-migration causes of PTSD development, while acculturative stress is the most common post-migration stressor. There were mixed reports regarding the causes of PTSD between both genders of refugees/asylum seekers. Conclusions: This review’s findings have potential clinical application in terms of helping clinicians to risk stratify refugees/asylum seekers for PTSD development and thus aid in embarking on earlier intervention measures. However, more rigorous research similar to this study is needed for it to be implemented into clinical practice.

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Adverse Childhood Events and the Risk for New-Onset Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among U.S. National Guard Soldiers

Military Medicine ◽

10.7205/milmed-d-14-00626 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 180 (9) ◽

pp. 972-978 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sasha Rudenstine ◽

Greg Cohen ◽

Marta Prescott ◽

Laura Sampson ◽

Israel Liberzon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

National Guard ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Adverse Childhood Events ◽

Adverse Childhood ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

New Onset

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Pain in the aftermath of trauma is a risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291707001389 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 533-542 ◽

Cited By ~ 118

Author(s):

S. B. Norman ◽

M. B. Stein ◽

J. E. Dimsdale ◽

D. B. Hoyt

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Risk Factor ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Injury ◽

Surgical Trauma ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Post Traumatic

BackgroundIdentifying risk factors for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is important for understanding and ultimately preventing the disorder. This study assessed pain shortly after traumatic injury (i.e. peritraumatic pain) as a risk factor for PTSD.MethodParticipants (n=115) were patients admitted to a Level 1 Surgical Trauma Center. Admission to this service reflected a severe physical injury requiring specialized, emergent trauma care. Participants completed a pain questionnaire within 48 h of traumatic injury and a PTSD diagnostic module 4 and 8 months later.ResultsPeritraumatic pain was associated with an increased risk of PTSD, even after controlling for a number of other significant risk factors other than acute stress disorder symptoms. An increase of 0.5 s.d. from the mean in a 0–10 pain rating scale 24–48 h after injury was associated with an increased odds of PTSD at 4 months by more than fivefold, and at 8 months by almost sevenfold. A single item regarding amount of pain at the time of hospital admission correctly classified 65% of participants.ConclusionsIf these findings are replicated in other samples, high levels of peritraumatic pain could be used to identify individuals at elevated risk for PTSD following traumatic injury.

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