| Research in the areas of quality of life and social support suggests a complex relationship with trauma. Most studies have found inverse relationships between both quality of life and social support posttrauma. However, it remains unclear how these findings apply to individuals with a current or past diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or to individuals who do not meet the criteria for PTSD. Furthermore, previous research has been limited to global index outcomes, which overlook specific domains that could reveal more information, obtained from convenience samples. We seek here to address these limitations by analysing data from a large community-based epidemiological catchment area study conducted in the south west of Montreal (N = 2399) broken down according to current PTSD diagnostic status: (i) Current PTSD, (ii) Past PTSD, (iii) No lifetime PTSD in spite of trauma exposure, and (iv) No lifetime trauma exposure. The inverse relationship of decreased quality of life posttrauma, specifically as PTSD severity increases, was replicated within our sample. In contrast to many previous studies, we show that social support was not significantly different between PTSD and No PTSD groups. Subscale scores were examined in depth for both quality of life and social support, with outcomes showing that even after PTSD remits, the gap between PTSD and No PTSD groups widens. This research allows for a much needed broadening of our understanding of quality of life for individuals with current and remitted PTSD. |
