Concurrent psychiatric illness in non-Hispanic outpatients diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder

Twenty-five consecutive admissions to an outpatient group therapy program for combat veterans meeting DSM-III criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder were systematically screened using operational diagnostic criteria for other coexisting psychiatric conditions, past or present. Eighty-four percent had coexisting conditions which, with one exception, were not significantly different in prevalence from those of an inpatient sample of combat veterans previously reported by the authors. The exception was a lower frequency of drug dependence in the outpatients compared with the inpatients. The authors conclude that a high proportion of conditions and symptoms--particularly alcoholism, antisocial personality, drug abuse, depression, and anxiety--can be routinely expected to coexist with posttraumatic stress disorder when it is diagnosed in Vietnam combat veterans.