Drinking away the hurt: the nature and prevalence of PTSD in substance abuse patients attending a community-based treatment program

The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was evaluated in 91 participants attending a community-based substance abuse program. The parti cipants were classified as having PTSD, possible PTSD, or no PTSD using the modified PTSD symptom scale (MPSS; Falsetti, Resnick, H. S., Resnick, P. A . & Kilpatrick, 1993). These groups were then compared on measures of anxie ty, depression,and fear using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depres sion Inventory (BDI), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), and the Fear Questio nnaire (FQ). The results showed that 52.8% of participants had either PTSD (37.4%) or possible PTSD (15.4%). Findings also showed that those with PTSD experienced more potentially traumatic events (e.g., rape, being beaten-up ) compared to the possible PTSD and no PTSD participants. The PTSD group al so reported significantly greater scores on the ASI, BAI, and BDI than did the no PTSD group, and greater scores on the ASI and BAI than did the possi ble PTSD group. Further, when using a discriminant function analysis, self- report measures correctly classified 70% of the PTSD group and 80% of a com posite group of possible PTSD and no PTSD participants. Implications of the se results are discussed. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.