War stressors and symptom persistence in posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract This study focused on delineating aspects of war stressors associated with risk for posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Findings from 191 Vietnam war veterans are presented, addressing which elements of the war experience predicted PTSD in remission or persistent PTSD. Some experiences, like loss and injury, predicted having had PTSD symptoms in the past, while other experiences, such as exposure to grotesque death, predicted current (persistent) PTSD. Discriminant analysis showed that the more extreme/intense the stressor experiences, the higher the risk for developing PTSD and for persistent symptoms. These findings provide empirical support for the PTSD diagnosis and additional data for refining the PTSD stressor criterion.