Table 4.
Mean duration and years in episode of DSM-IV/CIDI PTSD by trauma type in the WMH Surveys.
| Mean PTSD episode duration | Number of years with | Proportion of all years with | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in months) by trauma typea |
PTSD per 100 peopleb |
PTSD for each trauma typec |
|||||
| Est | (SE) | Est | (SE) | % | (SE) | (n) | |
| I. War related trauma | |||||||
| Combat experience | 161.7 | (23.3) | 1.5 | (0.3) | 1.9 | (0.5) | (54) |
| Purposely injured/killed someone | 79.3 | (8.9) | 0.6 | (0.4) | 0.7 | (0.5) | (7) |
| Saw atrocities | 78.3 | (22.1) | 2.7 | (1.6) | 3.5 | (2.0) | (29) |
| Relief worker or peacekeeper | 95.3 | (45.8) | 0.1 | (0.0) | 0.1 | (0.1) | (2) |
| Civilian in war zone | 62.9 | (26.7) | 0.3 | (0.1) | 0.4 | (0.2) | (29) |
| Civilian in region of terror | 38.5 | (15.6) | 0.2 | (0.0) | 0.2 | (0.0) | (20) |
| Refugee | 44.7 | (20.2) | 0.4 | (0.1) | 0.5 | (0.2) | (20) |
| Any | 82.0 | (11.8) | 5.7 | (1.8) | 7.3 | (2.2) | (161) |
| II. Physical violence | |||||||
| Physically abused in childhood | 138.6 | (25.7) | 4.6 | (0.7) | 5.9 | (1.0) | (174) |
| Physically assaulted | 22.7 | (4.6) | 0.5 | (0.1) | 0.7 | (0.2) | (62) |
| Mugged | 115.0 | (47.5) | 4.2 | (2.3) | 5.4 | (2.8) | (119) |
| Kidnapped | 115.9 | (38.1) | 1.3 | (0.5) | 1.6 | (0.7) | (40) |
| Any | 101.4 | (18.6) | 10.6 | (2.6) | 13.6 | (3.0) | (395) |
| III. Intimate partner or sexual violence | |||||||
| Physically abused by romantic partner | 82.7 | (9.0) | 3.6 | (0.5) | 4.7 | (0.7) | (318) |
| Raped | 110.3 | (14.1) | 10.2 | (1.4) | 13.1 | (1.9) | (443) |
| Sexually assaulted (other than raped) | 114.2 | (18.5) | 11.7 | (2.1) | 15.1 | (2.7) | (280) |
| Stalked | 127.1 | (84.2) | 7.6 | (6.0) | 9.8 | (6.5) | (103) |
| Any | 110.9 | (18.0) | 33.2 | (6.5) | 42.7 | (4.9) | (1144) |
| IV. Accident | |||||||
| Automobile accident | 52.5 | (15.0) | 2.2 | (0.7) | 2.9 | (0.9) | (170) |
| Other life-threatening accident | 28.6 | (6.4) | 1.1 | (0.6) | 1.4 | (0.8) | (41) |
| Natural disaster | 12.9 | (4.3) | 0.0 | (0.0) | 0.0 | (0.0) | (22) |
| Toxic chemical exposure | 40.4 | (22.2) | 0.0 | (0.0) | 0.1 | (0.0) | (9) |
| Other man-made disaster | 41.3 | (8.4) | 0.7 | (0.3) | 0.9 | (0.4) | (31) |
| Accidentally injured/killed someone | 54.5 | (27.7) | 0.3 | (0.1) | 0.4 | (0.1) | (24) |
| Life-threatening illness | 41.3 | (9.0) | 1.1 | (0.3) | 1.4 | (0.3) | (152) |
| Any | 41.2 | (5.7) | 5.5 | (1.0) | 7.1 | (1.4) | (449) |
| V. Unexpected death of a loved one | |||||||
| Any | 37.7 | (3.9) | 9.0 | (0.9) | 11.6 | (1.5) | (1158) |
| VI. Other traumas of loved ones or witnessed | |||||||
| Child with serious illness | 44.7 | (8.7) | 1.8 | (0.4) | 2.3 | (0.5) | (225) |
| Other traumas to loved ones | 45.7 | (12.8) | 1.7 | (0.5) | 2.1 | (0.6) | (101) |
| Witnessed parenteral violence | 107.1 | (15.0) | 2.7 | (0.5) | 3.5 | (0.7) | (135) |
| Witnessed injury, death, dead body | 45.4 | (9.8) | 2.7 | (0.8) | 3.5 | (1.0) | (140) |
| Any | 55.0 | (5.1) | 8.9 | (1.1) | 11.4 | (1.6) | (601) |
| VII. Other traumas | |||||||
| ‘Other’ trauma | 62.1 | (12.1) | 2.0 | (0.4) | 2.5 | (0.6) | (201) |
| ‘Private’ trauma | 79.5 | (13.1) | 3.0 | (0.4) | 3.9 | (0.6) | (248) |
| Any | 71.5 | (6.8) | 5.0 | (0.6) | 6.4 | (0.9) | (449) |
| VIII. Any | 72.3 | (6.0) | 77.7 | (7.5) | 100.0 | (0.0) | (4357) |
aThe mean duration (in months) of PTSD episodes associated with the trauma type indicated in the row heading. Recovery was defined as the number of months until the respondent stopped having any symptoms. For example, respondents with a history of PTSD due to combat experience reported that symptoms continued for a mean of 161.7 months (13.5 years).
bThe number of lifetime episodes of PTSD due to the trauma type indicated in the row heading per 100 respondents from the third column in Table 3 multiplied by the mean duration (in years) from the first column of Table 4. For example, the 0.7 lifetime episodes of PTSD due to war-related traumas per 100 respondents multiplied by the mean 6.8 years per episode results in 5.7 (0.8 × 6.8) years of PTSD due to this category of traumas per 100 respondents.
cThe ratio of the entry in the cell of the previous column to the total 77.7 years of PTSD due to any trauma for every 100 respondents. For example, the 5.7 years of war-related PTSD represent 7.3% of the 77.7 total.