Comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder: Alternative explanations and treatment considerations
Open accessAbstract
Approximately half of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also suffer from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The current paper examines evidence for two explanations of this comorbidity. First, that the comorbidity reflects overlapping symptoms in the two disorders. Second, that the co-occurrence of PTSD and MDD is not an artifact, but represents a trauma-related phenotype, possibly a subtype of PTSD. Support for the latter explanation is inferred from literature that examines risk and biological correlates of PTSD and MDD, including molecular processes. Treatment implications of the comorbidity are considered.
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Depressive disorders correlate and cross-associate with EDs, SUDs, and PTSD.
“Since depressive disorders correlate and cross-associate with EDs, SUDs, and PTSD [138,159,160] the diagnosis may prove important for informing nutrition treatment.”
From Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint (2020) · cites this paper as [160]
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- Authors
- Flory, J. D., & Yehuda, R.
- Affiliations
- James J. Peters VA Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Flory, Janine D.
- Venue
- Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-06-30
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 141-150
- ISSN
- 1294-8322 (ISSN-L)
- 1958-5969
- PMC
- PMC4518698
- OpenAlex
- W2402965079
- Cited by
- 629
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 82 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 90 · 2021: 68 · 2020: 74 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 33.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (I01 CX000952)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, comorbidities, symptom overlap, PTSD subtypes, risk factors, biological correlates, molecular processes, therapeutic implications
- MeSH terms
- Major Depressive Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Major, Humans, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Risk Factors, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Comorbidity, Neuroimaging
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