CURRENT AND LIFETIME PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS AMONG VETERANS WITH WAR ZONE-RELATED POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER

Previous research has found high rates of psychiatric disorders among veterans with war zone-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). H owever, many studies in this area are methodologically Limited in ways that preclude unambiguous interpretation of their results. The purpos e of this study was to address some of these limitations to clarify th e relationship between war zone-related PTSD and other disorders. Part icipants were 311 male Vietnam theater veterans assessed at the Nation al Center for PTSD at the Boston Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale and the Structured Clinical Intervie w for DSM-III-R were used to derive current and lifetime diagnoses of PTSD, other axis I disorders (mood, anxiety, substance use, psychotic, and somatoform disorders), and two axis II disorders (borderline and antisocial personality disorders only). Participants also completed se veral self-report measures of PTSD and general psychopathology. Relati ve to veterans without PTSD, veterans with PTSD had significantly high er rates of current major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder , and social phobia, as well as significantly higher rates of lifetime major depression, panic disorder, social phobia, and obsessive-compul sive disorder. In addition, veterans with PTSD scored significantly hi gher on all self-report measures of PTSD and general psychopathology. These results provide further evidence that PTSD is associated with hi gh rates of additional psychiatric disorders, particularly mood disord ers and other anxiety disorders. The implications of these findings an d suggestions about the direction of future research in this area are discussed.