It is reported the majority of adults in the United States will experience a potentially traumatic event (PTE) in their lifetime. PTE is defined as an event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Understanding these factors that may influence negative post-PTE mental health outcomes is critical. If those factors are understood, then it could lead to prevention and intervention efforts. Some suggest that the type of trauma the individual experiences may have a big influence on the individual post-trauma, but the research done on this topic is limited.
Current emerging theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that substance-involved trauma may increase the risk of an individual developing PTSD. Other studies have found that substance involvement may be protective during trauma. Very few studies have been done to examine the effects that substance involvement has on trauma symptom presentation. This article examined trends between substance-involved trauma and no substance-involved trauma. The article also looked at patterns of which traumas usually involve substance use at the time of exposure to those that did not. This study hypnotized that substance-involved trauma would be associated with more severe mental health symptoms. A group of 194 participants from a university in the Northeast United States were sampled. All the students were between the ages of 18-25, enrolled full-time, and reported drinking alcohol at least once in the past 3 months.
42.7% of the sample reported a substance-involved trauma in their lifetime and of that group, 95.2% reported alcohol use and 27.7% reported other drug use. The majority of traumas reported were interpersonal trauma (58%). The study also showed that substance-involved trauma was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms, and anxiety symptoms but not depression symptoms. While other studies report that individuals with PTSD are more likely to have heavier alcohol use. This study helped show the importance of understanding substance-involved trauma and why more research should be done on this topic.
Takeaway: Substance-involved trauma is not a very explored topic; this article explored a big gap in current research and found that those who experienced substance-involved trauma report greater PTSD and anxiety symptoms.