Scientists from Georgia State University found that for some Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a source of traumatic stress that may predict post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
They found that the association between COVID traumatic stress and PTSD is stronger among people who have repeated experiences of past trauma.
The research is published in the Journal of Community Psychology and was conducted by Jeff Ashby et al.
In the study, the team surveyed 745 people to examine the potential interaction of race/ethnicity, COVID-19 traumatic stress, and cumulative trauma in the prediction of PTSD symptoms.
They used a recently validated COVID-19 Traumatic Stress Scale to measure the pandemic’s effect as related to the threat or fear of infection and death.
The team found a positive and significant association between COVID traumatic stress and PTSD symptoms, suggesting that the pandemic is a unique traumatic stressor.
Among all racial groups except Asian Americans, there was also an association between increased PTSD symptoms and high levels of cumulative trauma.
The findings suggest that there is a relationship between cumulative trauma and PTSD, and there is a link between COVID traumatic stress and PTSD.
And except for Asian Americans, those of us who have more cumulative trauma are more likely to experience COVID-19 as a traumatic stressor.
For Asian Americans who experienced COVID traumatic stress, higher levels of cumulative trauma did not appear to worsen PTSD symptoms.
Instead, the link between COVID, traumatic stress, and PTSD symptoms did not appear to be affected by previous trauma for this group.
The team says the results emphasize the importance of examining subgroups in the community for potential exacerbating—or buffering—effects of COVID stress on mental health outcomes.
Given the pandemic’s outsized effect on marginalized groups, trauma-informed care could help minimize disparities in mental health outcomes related to the experiences of the pandemic.
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