%0 Journal Article
%T Psychiatric diagnoses, trauma, and suicidiality
%A Silje K Floen
%A Ask Elklit
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1744-859x-6-12
%X During two months, all consecutive patients (n = 139) in a psychiatric hospital in Western Norway were interviewed (response rate 72%).Ninety-one percent had been exposed to at least one trauma; 69 percent had been repeatedly exposed to trauma for longer periods of time. Only 7% acquired a PTSD diagnosis. The comorbidity of PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses were 78%. A number of diagnoses were associated with specific traumas. Sixty-seven percent of the patients reported suicidal thoughts in the month prior to intake; thirty-one percent had attempted suicide in the preceding week. Suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviour, and suicide attempts were associated with specific traumas.Traumatised patients appear to be under- or misdiagnosed which could have an impact on the efficiency of treatment.Based on data from a large nationally representative sample of people participating in the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) [1], 60% of men and 50% of women reported to have experienced a traumatic event at some point in their lives, with the majority of them having been exposed to two or more traumatic events. The prevalence of trauma exposure among psychiatric populations has been found to be higher than in the rest of the population. Five studies have reported childhood and sexual abuse in between 34% and 81% of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) [2]. In five other studies the exposure to physical and sexual violence varied between 43% and 81% in patients with SMI [2]. In addition, a significant rate (43%) of exposure to car and work accidents has also been reported in SMI patients [3]. A 90% lifetime trauma exposure has been reported among psychiatric patients [4]. Likewise, another study found that 61% of the patients in a psychiatric setting had experienced at least one traumatic event [5]. Thus, psychiatric patients appear to have been more exposed to traumatic events than the general population.While the NCS [1] found a 5% lifetime prevalence of PTSD among m
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/6/1/12