Diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, increasing most sharply as the coronavirus pandemic closed campuses and upended the lives of young adults, according to a new study released Thursday.
The prevalence of PTSD increased from 3.4 percent to 7.5 percent during this period, according to the findings. Researchers analyzed responses from more than 390,000 participants in the Healthy Minds Study, an annual online survey.
“The magnitude of this increase is indeed shocking,” said Yusen Zhai, the paper’s lead author, who directs the community counseling clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her clinic has seen more young people struggling following traumatic events. So he expected an increase, but not that big.
Dr. Zhai, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Studies, attributed the increase to “broader societal stressors” on students, such as campus shootings, social unrest and the sudden loss of loved ones. because of the coronavirus.
PTSD is a mental health disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and increased sensitivity to reminders of an event, which persist for more than a month after it occurred.
It is a relatively common disorder, with about 5 percent of adults in the United States suffering from it each year, according to the most recent epidemiological survey conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. The lifetime prevalence is 8 percent among women and 4 percent among men, according to the survey.
The new research also found a sharp increase in the prevalence of a similar condition, acute stress disorder, diagnosed less than a month after trauma. Diagnoses increased to 0.7 percent among students in 2022, up from 0.2 percent five years earlier.
The use of mental health care has increased nationally during the pandemic, as teletherapy has made it much easier to see clinicians. Treatment for anxiety disorders increased most sharply, followed by PTSD, bipolar disorder and depression, according to economists who analyzed more than 1.5 million insurance claims for clinician visits between 2020 and 2022 .
PTSD was introduced as an official diagnosis in 1980, when it became clear that combat experiences had scarred many Vietnam veterans, making it difficult for them to work or participate in family life. In the decades since, the definition has been revised to encompass a broader range of injuries, violence and abuse, as well as vicarious exposure to traumatic events.
However, diagnosis still requires exposure to Criterion A trauma, defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence.” .
It is not uncommon for young adults to experience traumatic events. A 1996 study of Detroit residents found that exposure to traumatic events – such as violent assault, injury or unexpected death – peaked sharply between the ages of 16 and 20. It then decreased precipitously after 20 years.
Research suggests that less than a third of people exposed to traumatic events develop PTSD.
Shannon E. Cusack, a university researcher who has studied PTSD in college students, said there are divisions within the field over whether the profound disruptions young adults have experienced during the pandemic — abrupt loss of housing and income, social isolation and fear of infection – amounts to triggering events.
“They cause symptoms consistent with the diagnosis of PTSD,” said Dr. Cusack, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Am I not going to treat them because their stressor doesn’t count as trauma?
The prevalence data, she said, highlights an urgent need for PTSD treatment on college campuses. Short-term treatments developed for veterans, such as prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy, have been shown to be effective in managing PTSD symptoms.
Stephen P. Hinshaw, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the pandemic’s disruptions could have left students emotionally exhausted and less resilient in the face of traumatic events.
“Halfway through this study, there may have been more trauma and deaths,” he said, adding that the lockdowns may have caused more general despair among young people. “With mental health deteriorating overall, is it harder to cope with traumatic stressors if you’re exposed to them?
Some changes to the diagnostic manual may have blurred the line between PTSD and disorders like depression or anxiety, Dr. Hinshaw said. In 2013, the committee overseeing revisions to the manual expanded the list of potential PTSD symptoms to include dysphoria, or a deep feeling of unease, and a negative worldview, which could also be caused by depression, he said. -he declares. But these changes, he added, do not explain the sharp increase in diagnoses.
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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