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01-02-2017 | Original Paper

Comorbid Depression and Other Predictors of PTSD Severity in Urban Public Transit Employees

Authors: Ravi Shah, Rosane Nisenbaum, Catherine Classen, Rahel Eynan, Paul S. Links

Published in: Community Mental Health Journal | Issue 2/2017

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine whether post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) among urban public transit employees who were exposed to a workplace traumatic event is associated with greater PTSD severity over the 6-month follow-up period compared to PTSD without MDD, and also to identify predictors of PTSD severity among these employees. Information about Axis-I diagnosis and PTSD severity were collected from the SCID-I and the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (MPSS) respectively. PTSD without MDD (N = 29) and PTSD with MDD (N = 37) groups were not significantly different in terms of PTSD severity. The severity of depression (p = 0.01), female (p = 0.01), non-Caucasian (p = 0.01), perceived high workplace related stress (p = 0.02), and history of lifetime trauma (p = 0.01) were significantly associated with greater PTSD severity after controlling other variables. This study highlights the importance of modifiable variables for reducing PTSD severity after a workplace traumatic event in transit employees.

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Title: Comorbid Depression and Other Predictors of PTSD Severity in Urban Public Transit Employees
Authors: Ravi Shah
Rosane Nisenbaum
Catherine Classen
Rahel Eynan
Paul S. Links
Publication date: 01-02-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Community Mental Health Journal / Issue 2/2017
Print ISSN: 0010-3853
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2789
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-016-0029-z

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