Predictors of Major Depressive Disorder in Disaster Survivors

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this study is to examine Major Depression (MDD) in disaster survivors who have been most directly affected. MDD is usually the second most common disorder in disaster survivors with reported prevalence as high as 45%. However, it has been markedly under-studied by comparison to the literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We will be investigating (1) pre-disaster and disaster experience predictors of post-disaster MDD, (2) post-disaster symptoms that may serve as indicators of full MDD, and (3) coping behaviors in depressed survivors that prospectively predict current MDD at follow up years later. We propose a secondary analysis of datasets collected from 10 different disasters. These datasets were collected by the same team within a narrow timeframe after the disasters and include follow-up data for up to 3 years, allowing for a richer cross-disaster comparison than any prior study of post-disaster MDD. This is especially important because psychopathology varies tremendously in prevalence among disasters. This research has the potential to (1) help non-clinician disaster responders target high-risk individuals for MDD among disaster-exposed populations, (2) yield guidelines for screening procedures and inform future efforts to design a sensitive and specific screening instrument for post-disaster MDD, (3) help clinicians to identify coping behaviors and other factors that predict the level of functioning and the presence of MDD as reassessed years later. More broadly, this research has the potential to inform debates about whether and how post-disaster MDD differs from PTSD and from MDD in the general population by identifying similarities and differences between their risk factors.