Distress and Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Abused Women

• NCJ Number: 158201
• Journal: Violence and Victims Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 23-34
• Author(s): S Vitanza; L C M Vogel; L L Marshall
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined emotional stress and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a group of 93 women who were seriously psychologically abused by their partners.

Abstract

The women were classified according to their scores on the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales. High scores of all the women on the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL90-R) suggested that subtle as well as overt psychological abuse may cause most of the distress observed in battered women. However, the groups did differ in terms of attempted suicides, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, paranoia, and PTSD symptoms, indicating that the severity of abuse may moderate specific manifestations of distress. The results also showed that cognitive failure and private self-consciousness predicted general patterns of emotional distress, but were less evident when specific types of emotional distress were considered. 1 table and 53 references