Women living with HIV (WLHIV)
have rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) up to 5 times higher than
the general population. Individuals living with HIV and a concurrent diagnosis
of PTSD have poorer HIV-related outcomes; however, the prevalence and impact of
PTSD on African-American WLHIV seeking mental health treatment is unknown.
The
aim of this study is to examine the associations between PTSD symptoms with
psychiatric symptom severity and psychological/religious coping strategies in
African-American WLHIV who are seeking mental health treatment. This is a
cross-sectional study of 235 African-American WLHIV attending an urban
community mental health clinic. Bivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate
associations between a PTSD symptoms scale (PSS≥21 versus PSS<21) and (1)
psychiatric severity, (2) coping strategies, and (3) religious coping
strategies.
Thirty-six percent reported symptoms consistent with PTSD (PSS≥21).
These women were significantly more likely to have worse mental health symptoms
and were more likely to employ negative psychological and religious coping
strategies. On the contrary, women with a PSS<21 reported relatively low
levels of mental health symptoms and were more likely to rely on positive
psychological and religious coping strategies.
Over one-third of African-American
WLHIV attending an outpatient mental health clinic had symptoms associated with
PTSD. These symptoms were associated with worse mental health symptoms and
utilization of dysfunctional religious and nonreligious coping strategies.
Untreated PTSD in WLHIV predicts poorer HIV-related health outcomes and may
negatively impact comorbid mental health outcomes. Screening for PTSD in WLHIV
could identify a subset that would benefit from evidence-based PTSD-specific
therapies in addition to mental health interventions already in place.
PTSD-specific interventions for WLHIV with PTSD may improve outcomes, improve
coping strategies, and allow for more effective treatment of comorbid mental
health disorders.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/otmzU8
By: Brownley JR1, Fallot RD, Wolfson Berley R, Himelhoch SS.
- 1 Department of Psychiatry , University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore , MD , USA.
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