Around half of patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also suffer symptoms of depression.
This is according to new research from scientists at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), which conducted a meta-review of 57 studies containing the data of 6,670 people who suffered PTSD.
Researchers found 52 per cent of those who were labelled as suffering from the disorder, or self-diagnosed as such, also had many symptoms of major depression disorder (MDD).
CWRU posited these findings represent the first time the correlation between incidence of MDD and PTSD have been measured – with previous estimates of how many sufferers of the latter also had depression ranging from 20 to 80 per cent.
“If individuals do not get a comprehensive assessment of what’s bothering them, one or the other can be missed,” said CWRU research associate Nina Rytwinski.
Understanding more about the way both PTSD and MDD correlate with each other is important – especially with the high numbers of soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq suffering from the disorders.
