Post-traumatic stress disorder and health problems among medically ill Canadian peacekeeping veterans

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and four significant health conditions (gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal problems, headaches, and cardiovascular problems). METHOD: Participants included 707 Canadian peacekeeping veterans with service-related disabilities, from a random, national Canadian survey, who had been deployed overseas. RESULTS: PTSD severity was significantly related to gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal problems, and headaches, but not to cardiovascular problems. Controlling for demographic factors did not affect PTSD\u27s relationships with the three significant health conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The present study supports previous work in finding consistent relations between PTSD severity and specific types of medical problems

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Associated Risk Factors in Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans with Health-Related Disabilities

Objectives: This study investigates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its associated risk factors in a random, national, Canadian sample of United Nations peacekeeping veterans with service-related disabilities. Methods: Participants included 1016 male veterans (age \u3c 65 years) who served in the Canadian Forces from 1990 to 1999 and were selected from a larger random sample of 1968 veterans who voluntarily and anonymously completed a general health survey conducted by Veterans Affairs Canada in 1999. Survey instruments included the PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M), Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and questionnaires regarding life events during the past year, current stressors, sociodemographic characteristics, and military history. Results: We found that rates of probable PTSD (PCL-M score \u3e 50) among veterans were 10.92% for veterans deployed once and 14.84% for those deployed more than once. The rates of probable clinical depression (CES-D score \u3e 16) were 30.35% for veterans deployed once and 32.62% for those deployed more than once. We found that, in multivariate analyses, probable PTSD rates and PTSD severity were associated with younger age, single marital status, and deployment frequency. Conclusions: PTSD is an important health concern in the veteran population. Understanding such risk factors as younger age and unmarried status can help predict morbidity among trauma-exposed veterans

Boredom proneness and fear of missing out mediate relations between depression and anxiety with problematic smartphone use

Depression and anxiety severity are found in numerous studies to correlate with increased levels of problematic smartphone use. Yet there are less available data on other psychopathology‐related correlates of such use. Two potentially important variables related to depression and anxiety, and recently found related to problematic smartphone use severity, are boredom proneness and the fear of missing out (FOMO). Our aims were to (a) assess boredom proneness and FOMO in relation to problematic smartphone use severity and (b) assess the mediating roles of boredom proneness and FOMO in relationships between depression/anxiety severity with problematic smartphone use severity. We recruited 297 American college students for a web survey, assessing constructs including FOMO, boredom proneness, depression, anxiety, problematic smartphone use, and smartphone use frequency. We tested a structural equation model to assess relations between depression and anxiety severity with boredom proneness and FOMO, and relations between these psychopathology constructs with levels of smartphone use frequency and problematic use. Results demonstrate that FOMO was significantly related to problematic smartphone use severity. FOMO also mediated relations between boredom proneness and problematic smartphone use severity. Furthermore, boredom proneness and FOMO serially mediated relations between both depression and anxiety severity with problematic smartphone use severity. Results are discussed in the context of Compensatory Internet Use Theory and the I‐PACE model in understanding factors driving problematic smartphone use.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153150/1/hbe2159.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153150/2/hbe2159_am.pd

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Health-Related Quality of Life among a Sample of Treatment- and Pension-Seeking Deployed Canadian Forces Peacekeeping Veterans

Objectives: To examine the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in deployed Canadian Forces peacekeeping veterans, addressing associations with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression severity. Methods: Participants (n = 125) were consecutive male veterans who were referred for a psychiatric assessment. Instruments administered included the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, Short-Form-36 Health Survey, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Mental HRQOL was significantly lower for peacekeepers with, than without, PTSD. Using univariate analyses, PTSD and depression severity were each significantly negatively related to mental HRQOL. In sequential regression analyses controlling for age, we found that PTSD and depression severity significantly predicted both mental and physical HRQOL. Conclusions: Veterans with PTSD have significant impairments in mental and physical HRQOL. This information is useful for clinicians and Veterans Affairs administrators working with the newer generation of veterans, as it stresses the importance of including measures of quality of life in the psychiatric evaluation of veterans to better address their rehabilitation needs

Predictors of Likelihood and Intensity of Past-Year Mental Health Service Use in an Active Canadian Military Sample

Objective: This study examined associations between sociodemographic, military, and psychiatric need variables and past-year mental health service use among active Canadian military members. The likelihood and intensity of services were examined across two provider types— mental health providers and medical providers. Methods: Data were drawn from the first epidemiological survey of mental health in the Canadian Forces, conducted by Statistics Canada in 2002. Survey instruments included the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, which was used to assess mental health and service use. Results: Of the 8,441 military members who participated in the survey, 14.5% (N=1,220) met criteria for having a mental disorder in the past year. However, of the 8,441 only 9.1% (N=767) contacted a mental health provider in the past year for mental health problems; even fewer (N=539, 6.4%) contacted a medical provider. Across the two provider types, the majority of those seeing a provider reported five or fewer mental health visits in the past year. In univariate and multivariate analyses across the two provider types, psychiatric need variables were consistently associated with both greater service use likelihood and intensity. In multivariate analyses, lower military rank was consistently associated with both greater service use likelihood and intensity. Conclusions: Of the entire military sample, only a small percentage used mental health services. The observed associations between military and psychiatric need variables and mental health service use in this study should be used by military health care providers and administrators to increase mental health service use among those most at risk of not using services