Traumatic Life Events and PTSD Among Women With Substance Use Disorders and Schizophrenia

The high levels of trauma and revictimization observed in the study highlight the need for the development of evidence-based interventions to treat trauma and its aftermath among women with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Given the overlap in symptoms between PTSD and schizophrenia, a better understanding is needed of how PTSD is expressed among people with schizophrenia. Recommendations and standards for the assessment of PTSD among this population need to be articulated. Finally, the comparatively high rates of PTSD suggest that the combination of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and substance use disorder makes these women particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes.