Psychiatria pre prax 4/2011

Posttraumatic stress disorder – prevalence among psychiatric inpatients

This study examined the incidence of psychotrauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in an inpatient psychiatric group. Structured clinical interview DSM IV (19) was used for the assessment of 99,2 % (532 of 577) of patients admitted to the psychiatric department during 6 months period in 2004. 27,26 % of patients reported a traumatic event in their personal history, 8,65 % experienced serious stressor, but it did not fully meet criteria DSM IV for PTSD and 64,1 % of patients reported no extreme stressor in personal history. Posttraumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 35,17 % of patients who reported exposition to psychotrauma, subthreshold/subsyndromal PTSD was possible to detect in 26,21 % and 38,62 % of those patients showed no signs of PTSD in their lifetime despite exposition to psychotraumatic event. We did not study possible association between the time or content of psychotrauma and the presence of other psychiatric syndromes. The highest degree of comorbidity was found between PTSD and depression. Consequences for clinical practice are discussed.

Keywords: trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, interview.