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Effect of Depression on Recovery from PTSD

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Abstract

It has been suggested that the treatment strategy needs to be reviewed and changed if depression occurs in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We analyzed data extracted from the Marmara Epidemiological Survey (MES) which had examined 683 survivors at 3 years after a devastating earthquake. Fifty three cases (40.5%) out of the 131 cases with PTSD had also been diagnosed with MDD. Comorbid PTSD and MDD group has significantly lower rates of recovery from PTSD in comparison to PTSD without MDD (26.4% vs. 47.4% respectively). Rates of past psychiatric disorder and past traumatic experience were significantly more frequent among the comorbid group. Moreover, comorbidity of PTSD and MDD was clearly associated with greater psychological distress, more severe PTSD, and diminished perceived social support. Past psychiatric disorder, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Scale (MSPSS) total scores succeeded in predicting the comorbidity of PTSD and MDD significantly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty of Kocaeli University, 41380, Umuttepe, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Ümit Tural, Emin Önder & Tamer Aker

  2. Centre for Psychological Trauma, Kocaeli University, 41380, Umuttepe, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Tamer Aker

Authors
  1. Ümit Tural
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  2. Emin Önder
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  3. Tamer Aker
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Correspondence to Ümit Tural.

Additional information

The original epidemiological study was conducted by Kocaeli University, Medical Faculty, Department of Psychiatry; and funded by Psychiatric Association of Turkey; and published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (Önder, E., Tural, Ü., Aker, T., Kılıç, C., & Erdoğan, S. (2006) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders 3 years after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey: Marmara Earthquake Survey (MES). Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41, 868–874).

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Tural, Ü., Önder, E. & Aker, T. Effect of Depression on Recovery from PTSD. Community Ment Health J 48, 161–166 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-010-9359-4

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