Post traumatic Stress

Epub: Ostacoli et al. Prevalence and Significant Determinants of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in a Large Sample of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2012 Oct.

Background: Chronic and life-threatening neurodegenerative diseases may be associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Aims: Therefore, the current study was an investigation of the prevalence of PTSD in MSers, and identification of significant determinants of PTSD. 

Methods: Two hundred thirty-two MSers were consecutively recruited and screened for the presence of PTSD with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, corroborated by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Furthermore, participants were administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Fatigue Severity Scale. Twelve MSers (12/232, i.e. 5.17 %) were diagnosed as suffering from PTSD. 

Conclusions: Levels of education, anxiety and depression were significant determinants of the presence of PTSD.



"1 in 20 MSers have PTSD. Are you surprised? Being diagnosed with a chronic lifelong disabling condition is very stressful. The anxiety of uncertainty does not help. Do any of you have PTSD? An important message is that PTSD is a treatable disorder, please don't suffer in silence."


Additional reading: PTSD

Other posts of interest on this blog in relation to anxiety and stress:


24 Oct 2012
Participants were sent questionnaires to measure factors potentially related to anxiety. The factors included disability, depression, self-efficacy, locus of control, general stress, psychological distress and factors specific to MS.
12 Aug 2012
INTRODUCTION: Studies have found that people with Multiple Sclerosis experience relatively high rates of anxiety and depression. Although methodologically robust, many of these studies had access to only modest sample ...
27 Jun 2012
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to measure anxiety (cut-point >7) and depression (>7) and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) to measure fatigue (≥5). Results: At cohort entry, prevalence of ...
03 Oct 2012
Clinical data including disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale: EDSS) and depression symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale: HADS-D) were recorded at 0, 2 and 6 months post-relapse.

11 Sep 2011
Background: Self-report measures of cognition have consistently been shown to correlate better with depressed mood than neuropsychological test performance in MS'ers, with few studies focusing on the role of anxiety and ...
31 Jul 2012
Conclusion: These findings may alert clinicians of the high prevalence and impact of daily hassles in MS and underline the need to incorporate stress and anxiety management strategies in (psycho)therapeutic interventions.
17 Oct 2012
has NOT been concerned with MS, so the map would show family, studying, exercise, employment etc as overwhelmingly the largest elements, with a tiny percentage devoted to anxiety (around the time of diagnosis) and ...

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