Other Mental Health Disorders, Essay Example

Research Question:The research question presented in this study is whether or not other mental health disorders were antecedent to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (p. 3).

Health Outcome of Interest:

Research focused on PTSD will benefit from this research and so will patients diagnosed with PTSD because if other mental disorders were antecedent to PTSD, then healthcare professionals will be able to determine if juveniles with mental health disorders will be likely to develop PTSD later in life, if those juveniles were exposed to trauma. Furthermore, if a link between PTSD and other mental disorders exists, then healthcare professionals will be able to improve treatment and prevention related to PTSD.

Exposure(s) of Interest:

Exposures of interest for this study include the amount of people who suffer from PTSD and the likelihood that those people also suffered from other mental health disorders earlier in their lives.

Type of Study (please indicate whether this is a prospective (concurrent) or retrospective (non-concurrent) or ambidirectional study:

This is prospective (concurrent) study. “This study is the first of which we are aware to examine current and lifetime mental-disorder comorbidity in adults with PTSD using a prospective follow-back design,” (p. 5).        

Description/Ascertainment of Cohort:

This cohort (longitudinal) study focused on the correlation between previous diagnoses of metal health disorders and current diagnoses of PTSD. Other studies have found that PTSD is comorbid with other mental disorders (p. 2). Furthermore, the authors found that those patients diagnosed with prior mental health issues are more likely to seek treatment in the event of a PTSD diagnoses. This study utilized a birth cohort, which means that participants were observed since birth for a period of 32 years.

Data Collection at Baseline:

Base sample of this longitudinal study was collected from 1, 037 individuals who were born between 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. After 32 years, 972 participants were still living and subsequent data was collected from them (p. 3). Information was collected through private interviews with each participant by using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. When the participants grew older, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule was used.

Type, Frequency and Duration of Follow-Up (indicate something about loss to follow-up and any efforts that were made to minimize loss to follow-up and include information on the characteristics of those who were lost to follow-up and comment on why this is important):

Participants were interviewed over the course of 32 years with each interview session taking place at two-year intervals. For instance, participants were interviewed (using the methods described above) at ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 26, and 32.  Interviews were conducted by professional clinicians who all held tertiary degrees in social work and clinical psychology. At the younger ages, participants were interviewed at 12-month intervals. When the participants reached 15-years-old, they were interviewed at three-year intervals. Also, once the participants reached a more mature age, researchers implemented the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders to diagnose the mental health disorders of participants (p. 3).

Type of Data Analysis (include measure of association used):

The researchers employed logistic regression analyses for sex to determine if adults who were diagnosed with PTSD suffered from another mental health diagnoses in earlier life. The authors employed odds ratios (AOR) to determine the strength of the association between PTSD and other mental disorders. The AORs were conducted with 95 percent confidence intervals. Furthermore, the researchers performed significance tests using the Wald chi-square (p. 4).

Results/Main Findings of Study:

The main result found through this study indicates that“the majority of mental health disorders associated with PTSD had an onset at or before age 15,” (p. 4). In other words, more than 66 percent of adults who are diagnosed with PTSD had been diagnosed with another mental health disorder by the age of 15. These findings are significant because they indicate that noncomorbid PTSD does not exist. Patients who are diagnosed with a mental health disorder early in life are more likely to develop PTSD at the onset of trauma. Whereas patients who are faced with trauma, and have not been diagnosed with a mental health disorder early in life, are unlikely to develop PTSD.

Assessment of Bias (selection and information): No biases were associated with this study as researchers included participants who “represent the full range of socioeconomic status in the general population of New

Zealand’s South Island and are primarily White,” (p. 3).

Assessment of Confounders:

Of the 1,037 initial study participants, 51 percent were male and 91 percent were of eligible births. The only other requirement was that the participants had to be born between 1972 and 1973 (p. 3).

Comments:

Study results are significant for the field of mental health because it indicates that people who have been diagnosed with mental health disorders at an early stage are more likely to develop PTSD at a later stage in life. This will change the diagnoses and treatments for PTSD cases and could even prevent the development of such a diagnoses at the onset of trauma.