Gray, C., Calderbank, A., Adewusi, J. et al. (2 more authors) (2020) Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in patients with functional neurological symptom disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 129. ISSN 0022-3999
Abstract
Objective:
To describe prevalence and relevance of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder (FNSD) and explore differences in PTSD symptom scores between subgroups with Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) or other FNSD.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study evaluated data from 430 consecutive patients referred to a specialist psychotherapy service (69.3% female, 56% with PNES/44% with other FNSD). We analysed self-reported symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD Civilian Checklist, PCLC), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), physical symptoms (PHQ-15), social functioning (WSAS), and health related quality of life (SF-36). Relationships between PTSD scores, diagnosis and other measures were examined. Independent associations of PTSD scores were identified using multilinear regression.
Results:
Symptom scores likely to indicate clinical PTSD were reported by 60.7% of patients with no difference between PNES and FNSD subgroups. Those potentially symptomatic of PTSD were less likely to be living with a partner OR 2.95 (95% CI 1.83–4.04), or to be in employment OR 2.23 (95% CI 1.46–3.41) than less symptomatic patients. There were higher levels of anxiety (r = 0.62), depression (r = 0.63) and somatic symptoms (r = 0.45) and lower quality of life scores (r = 0.48) in patients with high PTSD symptom scores (p < .0001 for all comparisons). Anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms made independent contributions to the variance of PTSD symptoms.
Conclusion:
There is a high prevalence of PTSD symptoms in patient with FNSD regardless of whether they have PNES. Trauma and PTSD symptoms are negatively correlated with quality of life. Self-report instruments for anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms may predict the presence of PTSD.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier. |
Keywords: | Post traumatic stress disorder; Functional neurological symptom disorder; Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures; Anxiety; Depression; Trauma |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Sheffield Teaching Hospitals |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Jan 2020 09:53 |
Last Modified: | 22 Jan 2020 09:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.109907 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:155892 |