Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Patients at an Anxiety Clinic in Puerto Rico

Marie Torres-Valentin,Alfonso Martínez-Taboas,Karen G Martínez-González

doi:10.37226/rcp.v5i1.5527

Abstract

Specialized evidence-based clinics are available for psychological trauma treatment. Data from patients in these clinics must be analyzed in order to better understand this population. In this study, we described the sociodemographic and clinical profile of patients from an evidence-based, anxiety disorder treatment/research center, located in the metropolitan area of Puerto Rico: The Center for the study of Fear and Anxiety (known by its Spanish acronym, CETMA). We performed a secondary data analysis of CETMA database, with data from the multidimensional evaluation, performed at the initial screening interview. We identified 35 patients with a preliminary diagnosis of PTSD. Patients with PTSD were mostly women, between 19-30 years, single, employed, with a completed bachelor’s degree. Also, they had 2-4 diagnoses, the most common comorbidity was generalized anxiety disorder. They reported a previous psychiatric history of PTSD, depression, and panic attacks. On average, patients received 1-15 therapeutic sessions. Findings highlight the need for educating and disseminating these services to the public, a population with an increased risk for PTSD.

Highlights

Puerto Rico recently experienced two high magnitude events: 2017’s Hurricane María, and the 2020 earthquakes, affecting many individuals living in the island
In the logistic regression model of comorbidities, we found that patients with three comorbidities were 2.63 times more likely to have a preliminary diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (95%CI .72-9.66, p = .145)
After applying a logistic regression analysis, in terms of PTSD diagnosis, we found that patients with a previous psychiatric history of PTSD, were 8.11 times more likely to have a current diagnosis of PTSD (95%CI: 2.02-32.59, p = .003)

Summary

Introduction

Puerto Rico recently experienced two high magnitude events: 2017’s Hurricane María, and the 2020 earthquakes, affecting many individuals living in the island. Other highly stressful and potentially traumatic events (PTE), such as the current coronavirus pandemic, and random events occurring in people’s personal lives, are an imminent threat to psychological balance, especially for those already receiving mental health treatment. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating mental disorder and a public health problem (Ishimura et al, 2015; Bovin et al, 2015). People with PTSD are more likely to have comorbidity with other mental disorders. High ranges of depression (21 to 94%) and anxiety (39 to 97%) have been found in persons with PTSD (Ginzburg et al, 2010; Bovin, et al, 2015). PTSD is associated with physical diseases such as diabetes, obesity, angina, hypertension, gastritis, and arthritis (Chang et al, 2017; Kitsmiller, 2017; Gabalawy et al, 2018)

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion