A latent profile analysis of PTSD symptoms among UK treatment seeking veterans
Open accessAbstract
Background: Significant numbers of individuals leave the military and experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans with PTSD symptoms rarely experience them in isolation, more commonly they are co-morbid with a range of other difficulties.Objective: Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to explore the heterogeneity of PTSD symptom presentation. Following this, regression analysis was used to examine variables that predicted membership to the identified PTSD profiles.Methods: Data on childhood adversity, socio-demographic characteristics and mental health outcomes was collected from 386 male veterans who had engaged with mental health services in the UK.Results: LPA identified a six-profile model to best describe the sample. There was a Low symptom profile, a Severe symptom profile and four Moderate symptom profiles. The Severe symptom profile was the largest one, accounting for 37.57% of the sample. Five out of the six profiles had mean PTSD scores above the cut-off for probable PTSD. Higher rates of common mental health difficulties were associated with more symptomatic profiles.Discussion: As the vast majority of veterans met criteria for probable PTSD, the finding of six different profiles differing primarily quantitatively, but to some extent also qualitatively, suggests the importance of moving away from a ‘one-size fits all’ approach when it comes to treatments, towards developing interventions that are tailored to meet the specific PTSD and co-morbid symptoms profiles.
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PTSD is a highly heterogeneous condition.
“PTSD is a highly heterogeneous condition (DiMauro, Carter, Folk, & Kashdan, 2014, Murphy, Ross, Busuttil, Greenberg, & Armour, 2019)”
From Psychological therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Murphy, Ross, Busuttil, Greenberg, & Armour, 2019
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- Authors
- Murphy, D., Ross, J., Busuttil, W., Greenberg, N., & Armour, C.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Ulster (GB)
- Research Department, Combat Stress, Leatherhead, UK
- Corresponding author
- Murphy, D.
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-01-21
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1558706-1558706
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6346703
- OpenAlex
- W2913481233
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ulster University Research Portal (Ulster University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, veterans, symptom heterogeneity, comorbidities, childhood adversity, treatment seeking, personalized interventions, male veterans
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