POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND COMORBIDITY: THE ROLE OF MEDIATION AND RELATION BETWEEN PTSD AND SOMATIC COMPLAINTS IN MENTAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT

Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between PTSD, somatic symptoms, and the role of co-morbid depression and anxiety. A study was conducted to test whether symptoms of PTSD influence somatic complaints indirectly through underlying symptoms of depression and anxiety. The participants included 69 veterans following a 6-month deployment and who showed criteria for probable PTSD diagnosis. Data were collected in 2014 and 2015. Measures included the PTSD checklist (PCL-5) and subscales of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), including anxiety disorder, depression, and somatic complaints. Depressive symptoms, as well as anxiety symptoms, had significantly mediated the relationship between PTSD and somatic complaints and positively related to somatic symptom severity. Otherwise, depression is a more robust factor than anxiety. Both severities of anxiety and severity of depression were more strongly associated with somatic complaints than PTSD itself. These new findings may have implications for the management of PTSD treatment in Military mental health services as well as in public health management since it recognizes the importance of Comorbid depression and anxiety when somatic complaints are present.