Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2017
Combat exposure and pain in male and female Afghanistan and Iraq veterans: The role of mediators and moderators.
Veterans experience physical health problems associated with disability and poor quality of life following combat exposure (CE). Understanding the CE-physical health relationship, specifically pain intensity and somatic pain, may inform etiological models and interventions. This study examined the CE-pain relationship, associated mediators, and gender as a moderator. 2381 veterans at the VA San Diego Healthcare System completed paper or electronic self-report measures of pain intensity and somatic pain. ⋯ Gender significantly moderated the CE-pain intensity association through depression scores such that the indirect effect was stronger for female veterans relative to male veterans. CE is associated with pain intensity and somatic pain, with greater levels of PTSD and depression mediating the CE-pain link and gender moderating the depression mediated CE-pain association. Future studies should examine gender differences and mediators in the CE-pain relationships using longitudinal designs to inform etiological models and targeted pain interventions.
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2017
The unique associations between rape acknowledgment and the DSM-5 PTSD symptom clusters.
It is well documented in the sexual assault literature that more than half of rape survivors do not label their experience as rape. This is called unacknowledged rape. Although this phenomenon is common and undoubtedly has huge implications for psychotherapy, the impact of acknowledgment status on psychological adjustment is unclear. ⋯ To examine this, 178 female college students who reported rape completed an online survey, including an assessment of PTSD symptoms in the past month. The results suggested that, after accounting for several covariates, acknowledged rape survivors reported significantly greater levels of intrusion and avoidance symptoms compared to unacknowledged rape survivors. The findings suggest that examining PTSD symptoms at the cluster level may provide more insight into the process of recovery following rape and therefore may better inform treatment decisions.
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2017
Sleep-related problems and minor psychiatric disorders among Brazilian shift workers.
The aim of this study was to explore the association between sleep-related problems with the occurrence of minor psychiatric disorders in shift workers of southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study with 1202 workers (785 females) aged 18-50 years was carried out. Minor psychiatric disorders were assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), and four sleep problems were collected and analyzed: sleep deprivation (≤ 5h), difficulty falling asleep, waking up during sleep, and sleep medication use. ⋯ Having two or more sleep-related problems was associated with increased probability of psychiatric disorders approximately three-fold among males and two-fold among females, when compared with those without sleep problems. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that sleep-related problems have a strong and independent association with psychiatric disorders among shift workers. Furthermore, the prevalence of both conditions was higher among females than males; however, the strength of these associations was higher in males.