Clinical Profile on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) of Veterans versus Patients Injured in Motor Vehicle Accidents



Abstract Views
312

Downloads
259

Citations

Share

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##

Submitted Apr 7, 2021
Published Jun 21, 2021
10.24018/clinicmed.2021.2.3.54

Abstract viewed = 312 times

Table of Contents

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Background: The 20 items of PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) can be rank ordered from highest to the lowest, based on item mean scores in a particular clinical group. Thus, they can provide an overview of the relative importance of each of the symptoms represented by these 20 items, i.e., a clinical profile for the particular type of patients. This study compared such ranking of PCL-5 items by US veterans with those of patients injured in high impact motor vehicle accidents (MVAs).

Method: De-identified PCL-5 data were available for 80 post-MVA patients (mean age 38.9 years, SD=12.8) and for 468 US veterans (mean age 55.4 years, SD=13.8). The US veterans’ data are those published by Bovin et al. in 2016.

Results and Discussion: The overall rank order of PCL-5 items was significantly similar in the two groups (Spearman’s rho=.83), perhaps due to certain similarities of the two groups (potential threat to life or of severe physical injury). Both groups rated the Item 20 (sleep difficulties) as the most prominent, and they rated Item 16 (taking too many risks) and then Item 8 (trouble remembering details of the stressful event) as least prominent.

The largest clinically interesting difference in the item rank was on Item 12 (loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities) which was more prominent in the MVA patients, presumably due to their persistent post-accident pain (all but one MVA patient reported pain, and in 82.5% the pain was rated as more than mild).

Conclusions: In both groups, the ratings of sleep difficulties were the most prominent and ratings of taking excessive risks and of not remembering details of stressful evens were least prominent. The overall rank order of the 20 items was significantly similar in the two groups. 

Keywords: PTSD, PCL-5, sleep disorder, veterans, car accident

References

  1. Weathers FW, Litz BT, Keane TM, Palmieri PA, Marx BP, & Schnurr PP. The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). The National Center for PTSD, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, 2013. www.ptsd.va.gov.
     Google Scholar
  2. Blevins CA, Weathers FW, Davis MT, Witte TK, and Domino JL. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): Development and Initial Psychometric Evaluation. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 2015;28:489-498. doi: 10.1002/jts.22059.
     Google Scholar
  3. Bovin MJ, Marx BP, Weathers FW, Gallagher MW, Rodriguez P, Schnurr PP, Keane TM. Psychometric properties of the PTSD checklist for diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders – fifth edition (PCL-5) in veterans. Psychological Assessment. 2016;28:1379-91.
     Google Scholar
  4. Cernovsky ZZ, Fattahi M, Litman LC, and Diamond DM. Validation of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) on Patients Injured in Car Accidents. European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences. 2021;3(2):154-159.
     Google Scholar
  5. Cleeland CS. The Brief Pain Inventory - User Guide. Houston, TX: The University of Texas - M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 2009.
     Google Scholar
  6. Morin CM, Belleville G, Bélanger L, and Ivers H. The insomnia severity index: psychometric indicators to detect insomnia cases and evaluate treatment response. Sleep. 2011; 34:601-608.
     Google Scholar
  7. King NS, Crawford S, Wenden FJ, Moss NEG, Wade DT. The Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire: a measure of symptoms commonly experienced after head injury and its reliability. Journal of Neurology. 1995;242:587-592.
     Google Scholar
  8. Cernovsky ZZ, Mann SC, Velamoor V, Oyewumi LK, Diamond DM, Litman LC. Validation of the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) on Patients Injured in High Impact Car Accidents. Archives of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 2021;4(1):14-22. doi.org/10.22259/2638-5201.0401003.
     Google Scholar
  9. Cernovsky ZZ, Litman LC, Mann SC, Oyewumi LK, Bureau Y, Mendonça JD, Diamond DM, and Raheb H. Validation of the Subjective Neuropsychological Symptoms Scale (SNPSS) in Injured Motorists. Archives of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 2021;4(1):6-13.
     Google Scholar
  10. Havlicek LL, & Peterson NL. Effect of the violation of assumptions upon significance levels of the Pearson r. Psychological Bulletin. 1977;84(2):373-377. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.84.2.373.
     Google Scholar
  11. Diamond DM, Campbell AM, Park, CR, Halonen, J, Zoladz, PR. The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson Law. Neural Plasticity. 2007; 60803: 1-33. doi:10.1155/2007/60803.
     Google Scholar
  12. Ehlers A, Hackmann A, Steil R, Clohessy S, Wenninger K, and Winter H. The nature of intrusive memories after trauma: the warning signal hypothesis. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2002;40(9):995-1002.
     Google Scholar
  13. Diamond DM and Zoladz PR. Dysfunctional or Hyperfunctional? The Amygdala in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Is the Bull in the Evolutionary China Shop. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 2016;94:437-444 doi: 10.1002/jnr.23684.
     Google Scholar