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PTSD and alcohol associations among trauma-exposed women: Critical questions for the field.

2016; Wiley; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/cpsp.12168

1468-2850

Debra Kaysen, Michele Bedard‐Gilligan, Cynthia A. Stappenbeck,

Homelessness and Social Issues

The article by Langdon and colleagues (2016) provides an excellent review of the complex interrelationships between sexual victimization, PTSD, and alcohol use among women.In many ways their review highlights how the field is like the proverb of the blind men describing the elephant; what you see depends on what part of the elephant you are holding.The man holding the elephant's trunk is going to describe something different than the man holding the elephant's tail.The associations among trauma exposure, PTSD, and alcohol use are similar to this proverb in that the associations are likely to change depending on the timing and context of alcohol use, whether we are assessing women immediately posttrauma or months to years post-trauma after more chronic patterns have likely developed, and based on the methodologies used to examine these associations.In addition, the field must move to testing potential explanatory mechanisms to refine or even move beyond widely accepted but overly broad theories, such as self-medication, to better inform prevention and intervention efforts.In this commentary, we highlight several questions that, if addressed, would help move the field forward. What is the Impact of Alcohol Use During Trauma?As highlighted in the review by Langdon and colleagues (2016), it is well documented that alcohol use by the perpetrator, victim, or both is common and that alcohol use in general increases risk for sexual assault.However, it is less well understood why alcohol increases vulnerability and how alcohol influences outcomes following trauma exposure.