SCREENING FOR TRAUMA HISTORY ON AN INPATIENT AFFECTIVE-DISORDERS UNIT- A PILOT-STUDY

Psychiatric inpatients (N = 343) admitted to an affective-disorders un it were administered a self-rating Trauma Questionnaire (TQ) to evalua te life history of traumatic experiences. Eighty four percent of the s ample identified at least one traumatic-event category (M = 2.72 categ ories/patient). Symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were highly prevalent. However only six patients received a ch art diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder: Female patients eviden ced more PTSD symptoms than males, in contrast to an equal number of e vent categories identified by the two sexes. Age correlated negatively with number of symptoms endorsed. Implications for trauma screening i n affective-disorder patients are discussed.