A Longitudinal Course of ICD-11 Adjustment Disorder Symptom Profiles: A 12-Month Follow-Up Study

Adjustment disorder is frequently diagnosed in clinical practice; however, the course of adjustment disorder over time has not yet been studied extensively.

This longitudinal study was one of the first that aimed to analyze trajectories of adjustment disorder symptoms in a 12-month follow-up among a high-risk community sample (n = 205) exposed to various stressors. Adjustment disorder symptoms were measured at baseline and 12-month follow-up with the Brief Adjustment Disorder New Module based on the definition of adjustment disorder provided in the 11th Edition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) released in 2018 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A latent transition analysis of adjustment symptoms identified four distinct trajectories: "high symptom," "recovery," "onset," and "low symptom." We found 46% of ICD-11 adjustment disorder at baseline, and 29% of the sample was classified as having a high-symptom adjustment symptom profile. The high-symptom profile was predicted by ongoing stressors, female gender, and higher education.

Study findings indicate that adjustment disorder among high-risk samples, in particular, those exposed to ongoing stressors, could have a high-symptom course over 12 months.