Relation of psychological vulnerability factors to posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology in bone marrow transplant recipients

Objective: frier research suggests that the diagnosis and treatment of canc er can result in the development of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disord er (PTSD), Based on Lazarus and Folkman's model of stress, the current stud y examined whether trauma appraisals, coping, social support, and social co nstraint were associated with the severity of PTSD symptoms In cancer patie nts who had undergone bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Methods: Participa nts were 23 males and 79 females treated with BMT an average of 20 months p reviously (range = 3-62 months). Past and current psychiatric diagnoses wer e assessed through a structured clinical interview. PTSD symptomatology and other psychological variables were assessed using standardized self-report measures. Results: Results indicated that 5% of participants met diagnosti c criteria for current PTSD. Participants reported an average of three to f our symptoms of PTSD (range = 0-16). Univariate analyses confirmed predicti ons that increased PTSD symptomatology would be associated with more negati ve appraisals of the BMT experience, greater use of avoidance-based coping strategies, lower levels of social support, and greater social constraint ( p < .05). Regression analyses indicated that each of these variables accoun ted for significant (p < .05) variability in PTSD symptomatology above and beyond relevant demographic and medical variables. Conclusions: Results of the present study confirm and extend prior research regarding the prevalenc e of PTSD and PTSD symptoms among patients treated for cancer. In addition, the study identified a set of theoretically derived psychological characte ristics that seem to place patients at risk for greater PTSD symptomatology after BMT.