Citation

Makin-Byrd K, Bonn-Miller MO, Drescher K, Timko C. J. Anxiety Disord. 2012; 26(2): 337-342.

Affiliation

Center for Health Care Evaluation (152-MPD), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, 795 Willow Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.012

PMID

22197340

Abstract

This study examined the relation between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and aggression (verbal, psychological, and physical aggression) in a longitudinal dataset. Participants were 175 males in PTSD residential treatment who were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 4-month follow-up. Post-treatment PTSD severity predicted aggression at post-treatment and 4-month follow-up, adjusting for age, pre-treatment PTSD severity, and pre-treatment aggression. When examining the relation between aggression and specific PTSD symptom clusters, post-treatment Reexperiencing, Avoidance/Numbing and Hyperarousal symptoms predicted aggression at posttreatment and 4-month follow-up. These results support the hypothesis that post-treatment PTSD severity may be an important marker of post-treatment aggression risk and may offer unique information important to clinicians and patients focused on the development and maintenance of adaptive, non-aggressive relationships after intensive PTSD treatment.

Language: en