On-the-Record Screenings Versus Anonymous Surveys in Reporting PTSD

Abstract

order to get him back on the road. In addition, he was generally very punctual but seemed to exhibit a new disregard for time. For example, he typically awakened early to take his son to school, but 2 days prior to admission he overslept, displaying an uncharacteristic apathy about getting his son to school on time.Upon psychiatric admission, prazosin was discontinued. After 30 hours, Mr. A's odd behavior and dissociative symptoms resolved, and he was discharged from the hospital while still being treated with all previous medications except prazosin. Six months later, he has not experienced recurrence of these behavioral symptoms.Prazosin is increasingly being used off-label to treat nightmares caused by PTSD. Although no behavioral side effects have been reported in studies on prazosin when used to treat hypertension or prostatic hypertrophy in patients without mental illness, it would be interesting to learn what side effects might arise in psychiatric patients.

Deployment-related mental disorders among Canadian Forces personnel deployed in support of the mission in Afghanistan, 2001–2008

“…26 However, not all of those who screened positive at the cut-off used would have received a diagnosis of PTSD, 27 and the survey's anonymous nature may have influenced results. 28 The extensive survey data reported by other countries raise the same and other comparability issues. 29 Data from historical conflicts raise even larger issues, 6 including changes in the conceptualization of trauma-related disorders.…”

Reporting Mental Health Symptoms: Breaking Down Barriers to Care with Virtual Human Interviewers

“…Relevant to the focus of the current work, anonymity has been shown to increase reporting disclosure of PTSD symptoms among service members (Olson et al, 2004;McLay et al, 2008;Warner et al, 2011). One study indicated that following a combat deployment, the sub-sample of service members who anonymously answered the routine PDHA symptom checklist reported twofold to fourfold higher mental health symptoms and a higher interest in receiving care compared to the overall results derived from the standard administration of the PDHA, which is identifiable and linked to service members' military records (Warner et al, 2011).…”

“…Service members are reluctant to report symptoms of combat-related conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is typified by persistent mental, behavioral, and emotional symptoms as a result of exposure to physical or psychological trauma. Not only are service members more likely to have PTSD than civilians (Vincenzes, 2013;Schreiber and McEnany, 2015) but also as a result of the perceived stigma surrounding the condition (Hoge et al, 2004(Hoge et al, , 2006, they are particularly reluctant to report symptoms (Olson et al, 2004;Appenzeller et al, 2007;Warner et al, 2007Warner et al, , 2008Warner et al, , 2011McLay et al, 2008;Fear et al, 2010;Thomas et al, 2010). The reluctance of service members in the United States Military to report PTSD symptoms is especially intensified when they are screened for mental health symptoms using the official administration of the Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA; Hyams et al, 2002;Wright et al, 2005) since this information becomes documented in their military health records.…”

Validity of Mind Monitoring System as a Mental Health Indicator using Voice

“…that the detection rate decreases in organizations that have established hierarchies such as in fire-fighting, police, or military [6][7][8]. Some causes of undervaluation in self-administered screenings are prejudice, discrimination, resistance to mental health disorder, or anxiety on career disadvantage in the job [6].…”

“…Besides these tests, there are proposals to use biomarkers such as saliva [7] and blood [8] as a method of evaluating mental health conditions. However, although selfreport psychometric tests are effective in determining those conditions at their early stages and in complementing diagnoses, there are issues of reporting biases.…”