Gender differences in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder in a general psychiatric practice

Objective: This report examined gender differences in the clinical manifest ations of current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in treatment-seeking patients. Method: Outpatients with PTSD (N=138) were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Results: Compared with male patients, female patients experienced more reex periencing symptoms and were more likely to meet criteria for current PTSD and to report sexual trauma as their index trauma. Men with PTSD were more likely than women with PTSD to meet criteria for a substance use disorder a nd for antisocial personality disorder. No gender differences were found in the frequency of other types of comorbid disorders, the number of comorbid disorders, or the presence of PTSD as a primary disorder. Conclusions: Overall, male and female patients with current PTSD present wi th fairly comparable clinical profiles.