The relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and acquired brain injury among civilian patients

Patients with acquired brain injury are a vulnerable group in Pakistan with limited psychosocial services available to them. The current study sought to determine the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in ABI patients with traumatic and non-traumatic injury.

A cross-sectional research design was used. The assessment of PTSD was carried out by using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5). In the study, there were 132 adults older than 18 years who have ABI-either traumatic or non-traumatic. The study was conducted in a public hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, and the data was collected one-month post brain injury.

The results showed that traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients have more PTSD symptoms as compared to non-TBI patients (p = 0.00). Intrusive (p = 0.00) and hyper arousal symptoms (p = 0.04) of PTSD were higher in TBI than in non-TBI patients. There was statically non-significant mean difference in symptoms of PTSD among male and female patients (p = 0.34). The moderately brain injury patients have high PTSD symptoms as compared to mild brain injury patients (p = 0.04). Further, the frequency of severe and extreme PTSD symptoms was high in TBI patient as compared to non TBI patients (p = .05) CONCLUSION: PTSD severity and PTSD symptoms such as intrusive and avoidance symptoms were higher in TBI patients than in non-TBI patients. This study contributed to the literature by assessing the onset of PTSD in patients with acquired brain injury. This study also provided knowledge to plan psychosocial interventions for patients with acquired brain injury having PTSD symptoms.