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. 2020 Jun 18:11:559.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00559. eCollection 2020.

Traumatic Events and Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents

Lukas A Basedow  1 , Sören Kuitunen-Paul  1 , Veit Roessner  1 , Yulia Golub  1
Affiliations

Traumatic Events and Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents

Lukas A Basedow et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Objectives: Adolescents with substance use disorders (SUD) frequently report traumatic events (TEs) and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aimed to assess whether lifetime prevalence rates of TEs and PTSD are related to SUD severity in adolescent psychiatric patients.

Methods: We analyzed N = 114 self-reports of treatment-seeking German adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, who visited a specialized SUD outpatient unit. Standardized questionnaires were applied to assess SUD severity, the number of TEs and DSM-IV PTSD criteria.

Results: Patients fulfilling PTSD criteria (28% of the total sample) had a higher Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) score compared to non-PTSD patients with TEs (p <.001), and compared to adolescents without TEs or PTSD (p = .003). Additionally, SUD severity was positively associated with the number of TEs and the number of intrusion, hyperarousal, and avoidance symptoms (all r = .33 to.48, all p <.01).

Discussion: Adolescent patients with SUD reported 3-times higher rates of TEs, and a 5-time higher prevalence of PTSD following TEs, than the general adolescent population. Adolescent SUD patients with PTSD reported more severe substance use problems than patients without PTSD-regardless of previous TEs. Longitudinal studies are needed in order to investigate the temporal relationship between TEs, PTSD and SUD.

Keywords: addiction; self-medication; teenager; trauma; traumatic experiences.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The percentage of patients (n = 59) that described a particular type of event as their most traumatizing experience. Total n = 114, with n = 35 reporting no traumatic experiences, and n = 20 not clearly identifying the most traumatizing experience.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The mean DUDIT score for the PTSD group (n = 32), the TE group (n = 47), and the NoTE group (n = 35). Mean differences were calculated through post-hoc multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni correction (**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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