Some of the more notable PTSD comorbidities are substance use disorder, major depressive disorder, another anxiety disorder, or phobias. PTSD comorbidities can complicate a diagnosis and lead to potentially more complex and less effective treatment or a delayed response to treatment. Source: Unsplash What are comorbidities?
Full Answer
What is comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
A significant proportion of individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) meet criteria for comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This comorbidity confers a more complicated clinical presentation that carries with it formidable treatment challenges for practitioners.
Can PTSD and MDD co-occur and be treated?
Treatment of PTSD and comorbid MDD is complex. People with both disorders show greater social, occupational, and cognitive impairment, report higher levels of distress, and are more likely to attempt suicide. Prognosis is poor when the two disorders co-occur and treatment dropout is more common.
What are the risk factors associated with PTSD/MDD comorbidity?
Risk factors associated with PTSD/MDD comorbidity. In contrast, the person who develops PTSD but has the externalizing personality style characterized by impulsive thoughts and behaviors is not likely to develop MDD. In this instance, PTSD is more likely to be accompanied by substance abuse and aggression.
What are the challenges in treating comorbid Suds and PTSD?
CONCLUSIONS The findings underscore the significant challenges that exist on multiple levels in treating comorbid SUDs and PTSD. One of the most common and unique challenges associated with treating SUD/PTSD patients involves knowing how to best integrate treatment components for PTSD and SUD symptoms.
What are the comorbidities of PTSD?
It is estimated that up to 80% of PTSD patients have a comorbid disorder, with the most common comorbidities being depression, anxiety, alcohol addiction, and substance abuse.
Why is treatment for PTSD more difficult than some other disorders?
Recent findings also show that a common neurological basis explains altered emotional responses in veterans with PTSD, and that fear learning caused by trauma is different from other types and may explain why it is more difficult to treat.
What are the complications of PTSD?
ComplicationsDepression and anxiety.Issues with drugs or alcohol use.Eating disorders.Suicidal thoughts and actions.
What are three risks of PTSD?
Some factors that increase risk for PTSD include:Living through dangerous events and traumas.Getting hurt.Seeing another person hurt, or seeing a dead body.Childhood trauma.Feeling horror, helplessness, or extreme fear.Having little or no social support after the event.More items...
Why is PTSD difficult to treat?
PTSD is difficult to treat because it is stored throughout the brain.
Why is PTSD so hard?
PTSD is hard to treat PTSD happens when people experience something so frightening, their threat response floods the brain with stress hormones and the memory of the event is stored differently. Instead of feeling like a normal memory, trauma memories feel like they are still happening, right now in the present.
What happens when PTSD goes untreated?
While PTSD can be difficult to treat, when left untreated, the mental health condition can cause significant psychological, physical, and social issues. Not only are veterans with PTSD at risk of suffering emotionally, but the condition puts them at an increased risk for several life-threatening conditions.
How does PTSD affect a person and their life?
Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt. They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia, and find concentrating difficult.
What are the side effects of PTSD medication?
The most common side effects include:Dry mouth.Nausea.Constipation.Diarrhea.Headache.Drowsiness.Insomnia.High or low blood pressure.More items...
Which of the following is a risk factor for developing PTSD after a traumatic experience?
Another risk factor in the development of PTSD after a traumatic event is having experienced another trauma in the past. The impact of trauma has been found to have a cumulative effect.
What other factors could contribute to an individual having an increased vulnerability to PTSD?
Vulnerability factors for PTSD can be categorized into pre-traumatic, peri-traumatic, and post-traumatic variables. Across all types of potentially traumatic events, variables such as female gender, low socio-economic status, or previous trauma exposure, consistently predict higher PTSD symptom levels.
Is lower hippocampal volume a risk factor for PTSD?
These results suggest that lower hippocampal volume is a risk factor for the development of PTSD.
Is PTSD a DSM disorder?
First, PTSD was removed from the anxiety disorders section and placed into a separate and new Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders section of the DSM. Second, the requirement that an individual experience “helplessness, fear, or horror” related to trauma exposure was eliminated.
Is PTSD a comorbidity?
Comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder is common, with approximately half of people with PTSD also having a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) across diverse epidemiological samples.1-4There are two competing explanations for this comorbidity. The first is that the comorbidity reflects ...
Is PTSD a major depressive disorder?
Approximately half of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also suffer from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The current paper examines evidence for two explanations of this comorbidity. First, that the comorbidity reflects overlapping symptoms in the two disorders. Second, that the co-occurrence of PTSD and MDD is not an artifact, ...
Can PTSD be treated with comorbidity?
With respect to psychotherapies, treatment recommendations for PTSD and MDD are distinct and there are no clear guidelines for treating the comorbidity.