The Structure of PTSD Comorbidity in the Axis II Domain

描述(由申请人提供)：研究表明，精神病理学的广泛课程是按照被称为内化和外化的正交维度组织起来的。因素分析工作表明，这些基于气质的潜在因素解释了主要精神障碍的表达、严重程度和共病。最近的研究已经将这一模型扩展到创伤领域，提供了证据表明，这些维度可能类似地解释了创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)的共病模式。这项关于创伤后应激障碍共病结构的工作仅限于对共病的I型轴障碍的研究和大量的描述性分析。因此，本横断面研究的目的是使用多元分析技术来更全面地检验创伤后应激障碍共病在Axis II领域的内在性和外在性结构，并调查在250名男性和女性创伤后应激障碍患者中预测这一共病表型表达的气质因素。这样做将为创伤后应激障碍共病的节俭、维度概念化提供支持，并将关于精神疾病结构的理论扩展到创伤和Axis II精神病理学领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research suggests that broad classes of psychopathology are organized along orthogonal dimensions termed internalizing and externalizing. Factor analytic work demonstrates that these temperament-based latent factors account for the expression, severity, and comorbidity in major mental disorders. Recent studies have extended this model into the realm of trauma, providing evidence that these dimensions may similarly account for patterns of comorbidity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This work on the structure of PTSD comorbidity is limited to the study of comorbid Axis I disorders and by largely descriptive analyses. Therefore, the goal of the present cross-sectional study is to use multivariate analytic techniques to more fully examine the internalizing and externalizing structure of PTSD comorbidity in the Axis II domain and to investigate the temperament factors that predict the phenotypic expression of this comorbidity in a sample of 250 men and women with PTSD. Doing so will provide support for a parsimonious, dimensional conceptualization of PTSD comorbidity and extend theory on the structure of mental illness into the realms of trauma and Axis II psychopathology.