TRAUMA PERVASIVELY ELEVATES BRIEF SYMPTOM INVENTORY PROFILES IN INPATIENT WOMEN

The Brief Symptom Inventory was administered to 228 women (M age: 37) consecutively admitted to specialized inpatient treatment for trauma-r elated disorders. Subsamples of patients were administered different p osttraumatic stress disorder scales, the Impact of Events Scale-Revise d, the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, and the PTSD scale of th e Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, as well as a measure of ch ild abuse and neglect, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. In this sev erely traumatized group, every scale of the Brief Symptom Inventory wa s significantly more elevated than the inpatient female norms, with th e five most highly elevated scales being Depression, Obsessive-Compuls ive, Anxiety, Interpersonal Sensitivity, and Psychoticism. Different i ndicators of trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, PTSD scales, and PTSD diagnosis) show different patterns of relationships with the indi vidual scales of the Brief Symptom Inventory. There is no simple relat ionship between trauma and BSI symptoms, but clinicians should conside r severe interpersonal trauma to be one pathway to pervasively elevate d profiles of the Brief Symptom Inventory.