Citation

Lortye SA, Will JP, Rameckers SA, Marquenie LA, Goudriaan AE, Arntz A, de Waal MM. Eur. J. Psychotraumatol. 2024; 15(1): e2367179.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, The Author(s), Publisher Co-action Publishing)

DOI

10.1080/20008066.2024.2367179

PMID

38934350

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment (CM) can be divided into: emotional abuse (EA), physical abuse (PA), sexual abuse (SA), emotional neglect (EN), and physical neglect (PN). CM is associated with (Complex)Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD/CPTSD) and substance use disorder (SUD).

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study examined the relationships between CM-subtypes with PTSD-severity and CPTSD in patients with SUD-PTSD.

METHOD: Participants (N = 209) were treatment-seeking SUD-PTSD patients who completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form, the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 and the International Trauma Questionnaire. Regression analyses and a model selection procedure to select an optimal model were used to examine CM-subtypes as predictors of (C)PTSD, adjusted for sex and age.

RESULTS: Total CM and all CM-types significantly predicted PTSD-severity in the univariate regression analysis, with EA begin the strongest predictor. In the multiple regression only SA predicted PTSD-severity. Subsequently, model selection indicated that the optimal model to predict PTSD-severity included EA and SA. In the univariate analyses total CM, EA, and PN significantly predicted CPTSD-classification, and total CM and all CM-types significantly predicted CPTSD-severity. In the multiple regression for CPTSD-classification only EA and PA were significant predictors and for CPTSD-severity EA, PA and SA were significant predictors. In post-hoc multiple regression analyses, only EA was a significant predictor of CPTSD-classification and CPTSD-severity. Finally, in the model selection the most parsimonious model only included EA for both CPTSD-classification and CPTSD-severity. Sex was not a moderator in the relationship between CM and PTSD, nor in CM and CPTSD.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that for SUD-PTSD patients, several CM-types have predictive value for (C)PTSD-severity, however SA and especially EA appear to contribute to these complaints. Since EA does not constitute an A-criterion, it is generally more overlooked in PTSD treatment. Its impact should therefore be underlined, and clinicians should be attentive to EA in their treatment.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Child; Adult; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; sex; *Substance-Related Disorders; *Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis; abuso emocional (AE); Adult Survivors of Child Abuse/psychology/statistics & numerical data; Child Abuse/psychology/statistics & numerical data; childhood maltreatment (CM); complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD); emotional abuse (EA); maltrato infantil (MI); Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); sexo; substance use disorder (SUD); Trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT); trastorno de estrés postraumático complejo (TEPTC); trastorno por uso de sustancias (TUS)