No abstract available.
Humans ; Republic of Korea ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis/*psychology/therapy

To examine whether tattooed patients, treated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by war at the Ward for Psycho-trauma of the Clinical Hospital Osijek, differ from non-tattooed patients by certain personality traits. The study was conducted on one hundred Croatian veterans who were divided into two groups with respect to the presence/ absence of tattoo. To assess the symptoms of PTSD, the Clinical Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-2) was used for all subjects. To assess personality traits the following psychology tests were applied: Purdue non-verbal IQ test, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-1), and Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ/A and EPQ/IVE). With respect to the examined pre-traumatic variables and PTSD symptoms, the two groups manifested no differences. The non-tattooed group achieved higher scores on the IQ test (IQ=100) than the tattooed group (IQ=95). EPQ test showed results either above or below the norms on all scales that were applied. The tattooed group demonstrated significantly higher levels of impulsiveness, adventurism, empathy and neuroticism than the non-tattooed one (p < 0.05). In the group of 100 Croatian veterans treated for PTSD, 33 had tattoos and 67 did not. The results indicated more impulsiveness, adventurism / risk behavior, empathy and neuroticism in the tattooed group than in the non-tattooed group, while there was no significant difference in the intensity of the PTSD symptoms.
Adult ; Combat Disorders/*psychology ; Croatia ; Human ; Male ; *Personality ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*psychology ; Tattooing/*psychology ; Veterans/*psychology

PURPOSE: The SPAN, which is acronym standing for its four components: Startle, Physiological arousal, Anger, and Numbness, is a short post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screening scale. This study sought to develop and validate a Korean version of the SPAN (SPAN-K). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-three PTSD patients (PTSD group), 73 patients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (psychiatric control group), and 88 healthy participants (normal control group) were recruited for this study. Participants completed a variety of psychiatric assessments including the SPAN-K, the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability values for the SPAN-K were both 0.80. Mean SPAN-K scores were 10.06 for the PTSD group, 4.94 for the psychiatric control group, and 1.42 for the normal control group. With respect to concurrent validity, correlation coefficients were 0.87 for SPAN-K vs. CAPS total scores (p<0.001) and 0.86 for SPAN-K vs. DTS scores (p<0.001). Additionally, correlation coefficients were 0.31 and 0.42 for SPAN-K vs. STAI-S and STAI-T, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of SPAN-K showed good diagnostic accuracy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87. The SPAN-K showed the highest efficiency at a cutoff score of 7, with a sensitivity of 0.83, a specificity of 0.81, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.88, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.73. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the SPAN-K had good psychometric properties and may be a useful instrument for rapid screening of PTSD patients.
Humans ; *Psychological Techniques ; Republic of Korea ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis/psychology

OBJECTIVES: Firefighters are prone to suffer from psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the workplace, and have a poor prognosis after PTSD. Reliable models for predicting PTSD allow for effective identification and intervention for patients with early PTSD. By collecting the psychological traits, psychological states and work situations of firefighters, this study aims to develop a machine learning algorithm with the aim of effectively and accurately identifying the onset of PTSD in firefighters, as well as detecting some important predictors of PTSD onset. METHODS: This study conducted a cross-sectional survey through convenient sampling of firefighters from 20 fire brigades in Changsha, which were evenly distributed across 6 districts and Changsha County, with a total of 628 firefighters. We used the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) to process data sets and used grid search to finish the parameter tuning. The predictive capability of several commonly used machine learning models was compared by 5-fold cross-validation and using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC), accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. RESULTS: The random forest model achieved good performance in predicting PTSD with an average AUC score at 0.790. The mean accuracy of the model was 90.1%, with an F1 score of 0.945. The three most important predictors were perseverance, forced thinking, and reflective deep thinking, with weights of 0.165, 0.158, and 0.152, respectively. The next most important predictors were employment time, psychological power, and optimism. CONCLUSIONS PTSD onset prediction model for Changsha firefighters constructed by random forest has strong predictive ability, and both psychological characteristics and work situation can be used as predictors of PTSD onset risk for firefighters. In the next step of the study, validation using other large datasets is needed to ensure that the predictive models can be used in clinical setting.
Humans ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis* ; Firefighters/psychology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Algorithms ; Machine Learning

OBJECTIVETo investigate the occurrence and associated factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in rescuers and firefighters.

METHODSThe PTSD of 264 rescuers and firefighters who had participated in rescue was evaluated using the self-designed fireman general situation questionnaire and PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). The factors associated with the occurrence of PTSD were also analyzed.

RESULTSThe incidence rate of PTSD in the subjects was 8.3%. The PTSD rate of special service corps (12%) was significantly higher than that of other subjects (P<0.05). The incidence of PTSD was highest in the rescuers and firefighters above the third rank, but without significant differences (P>0.05). The PTSD rate of married rescuers and firefighters was significantly higher than that of unmarried subjects (P<0.05). The PTSD rate of subjects addicted to drinking was significantly higher than that of non-drinking subjects (P<0.05). Subjects with more frequent attendance were more susceptible to PTSD compared with those with less attendance.

CONCLUSIONThe incidence rate of PTSD is high in rescuers and firefighters who have attended rescues. It is necessary to implement both short-term and long-term counseling programs for stress management and intervention in order to reduce the psychological trauma after rescue and improve the mental health of rescuers and firefighters.

Firefighters ; psychology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; diagnosis ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: As first responders to an increasing number of natural and manmade disasters, active-duty firefighters are at increased risk for physical and psychiatric impairment as reflected by high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because little is known about related factor with PTSD according to job stress level among firefighters, we assessed utility of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) using 5-year medical surveillance. METHODS: Data were analyzed from 185 male firefighters without psychiatric disease history and who at assessments in 2006 and 2011 completed all questionnaires on personal behaviors (including exercise, drinking and smoking habits) and job history (including job duration and department). MMPI, Events Scale-Revised-Korean version (IES-R-K) and Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF) were used to screen for personality trait, PTSD symptom presence and job stress level, respectively. IES-R-K subgroups were compared using two-sample t- and chi2 tests, and factors influencing IES-R-K according to KOSS-SF were determined using uni- and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Mean age and job duration were higher in PTSD-positive than negative groups. In multivariate analysis, increased PTSD risk was associated with: job duration (Odds ratio (OR) = 1.064, 95 % CI 1.012-1.118) for firefighters overall; masculinity-femininity (OR = 5.304, 95 % CI 1.191-23.624) and job duration (OR = 1.126, 95 % CI 1.003-1.265) for lower job stress level; and social introversion (OR = 3.727, 95 % CI 1.096-12.673) for higher job stress level. CONCLUSIONS: MMPI relates with PTSD according to job stress level among experienced firefighters. Masculinity-femininity and social introversion were the strongest related factor for PTSD symptom development in low and high job stress levels, respectively.
Disasters ; Drinking ; Firefighters* ; Humans ; Introversion (Psychology) ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Minnesota* ; MMPI* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Stress Disorders, Traumatic*

In forensic psychiatric evaluation, experts frequently need to assess the contribution degree of hurting factors to the victims. The contribution degree reflects the extent of hurt caused by the injurer and is the quantitative index of the responsibility which should be undertaken by the injurer. It is also important evidence for the judgement. Presently, there is no accepted and practicable quantitative tool to reflect the objective contribution degree. This article reviews domestic and international researches on the contribution degree of hurting factors in mental injury, including the concept, connotation, related assessment methods, problems in assessment and its future study trend.
Age Factors ; Brain Injuries/complications* ; Expert Testimony ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Psychology, Social ; Sex Factors ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology* ; Wounds and Injuries/complications*

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to check whether self-resilience, one of the characteristics known to affect the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after experiencing traumatic events, could serve as a protective factor for police officers whose occupational factors are corrected. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study in which 112 male police officers in Gangwon Province participated. They visited the Wonju Severance Christian Hospital Occupational Environment Center for medical check-ups from June to December 2015. Their general characteristics were identified using structured questionnaires, and they were asked to fill in the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF). Further, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale-Korean (CD-RI-K), and Impact of Event Scale-Revised-Korean version (IES-R-K) were used to evaluate their job stress, depression, self-resilience, and PTSD symptoms. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to correct their personal, occupational, and psychological factors to analyze the relationship between self-resilience and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Among 112 respondents who experienced a traumatic event, those with low self-resilience had significantly higher rate of PTSD symptoms than those with high self-resilience even after correcting for the covariate of general, occupational, and psychological characteristics (odds ratio [OR] 3.51; 95 % CI: 1.06–19.23). CONCLUSIONS: Despite several limitations, these results suggest that a high degree of self-resilience may protect police officers from critical incident-related PTSD symptoms.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Police* ; Protective Factors* ; Psychology ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective To explore the relationship among post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD),social support and quality of life in patients with spinal cord injury(SCI)after a long recovery in China and investigate the factors influencing the quality of life. Methods In this cross-sectional study,206 SCI patients who were hospitalized in 9 hospitals were enrolled.Data collection was performed using general information,the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian version,the social support scales,and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Abbreviated version.The data were statistically analyzed using
China/epidemiology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Social Support ; Spinal Cord Injuries/psychology* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/epidemiology*

INTRODUCTIONAnxiety sensitivity has been proposed as a psychological vulnerability factor for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies have also supported the protective role of resilience for overcoming the negative effects of trauma exposure. Given the linkages between anxiety sensitivity, resilience, trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress, this study explored the potential moderating roles of anxiety sensitivity and resilience on the association between trauma history and PTSD symptoms in a sample of individuals with chronic pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of 100 patients with chronic pain were recruited from a large public hospital. Patients who had pain lasting for more than 3 months and a pain intensity rating of at least 4/10 were included. The study participants were administered measures of PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist - Civilian Version), resilience (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) and anxiety sensitivity (Anxiety Sensitivity Index).

RESULTSAn analysis of outcome measures indicated that anxiety sensitivity and resilience were independently associated with PTSD symptoms, where βs were 0.57 and -0.23, respectively. The relationship between trauma and PTSD symptom severity was also moderated by anxiety sensitivity. Trauma history was associated with higher PTSD symptom severity only in those with high anxiety sensitivity. However, contrary to the hypotheses, resilience did not serve as a moderator.

CONCLUSIONThere are potential benefits of PTSD interventions that increase resilience and decrease anxiety sensitivity in individuals with chronic pain, especially for those who have experienced a traumatic event. Given that the presence of PTSD symptomatology in chronic pain populations negatively impact patient well-being, it would be important for clinicians to assess, monitor and treat PTSD in individuals with chronic pain.

Anxiety ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Chronic Pain ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Humans ; Psychological Trauma ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Resilience, Psychological ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; epidemiology ; psychology