Social and Health Functioning in Female Primary Care Patients with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder with and without Comorbid Substance Abuse

The present study examined whether post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with greater social and health morbidity than PTSD without SUD in a sample of female primary care patients. Participants were administered diagnostic interviews and assessed for work productivity, quality of interpersonal relationships, and degree of health functioning. No significant differences were found between the women with current PTSD and a comorbid lifetime substance use disorder (N = 56) and those with current PTSD and no lifetime substance use disorders (N = 60) in degree of work productivity, interpersonal functioning, and overall well-being and health, as well as number of lifetime medical illnesses. These findings suggest that the presence of comorbid SUD may not explain the level of social and health difficulties associated with the dual diagnosis of PTSD and SUD.