Frequency of Symptoms and Concurrent Psychiatric Disorder in Vietnam Veterans With Chronic PTSD

The frequency of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder within each of three categories—reexperiencing, avoidance or numbing, and physiological arousal—was examined in 116 Vietnam combat veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD. The prevalence of all PTSD symptoms was greater than 50 percent except for flashbacks, psychogenic amnesia, and sense of foreshortened future. Comorbidity in a subgroup of 48 patients was assessed using operational criteria for DSM-III-R mental disorders. Mood disorders, psychoactive substance abuse disorders, and other anxiety disorders frequently co-occurred with PTSD, but psychotic disorders were uncommon. These findings provide empirical validation of the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for PTSD.