Residual injury, appearance-related concerns, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression within a treatment-seeking veteran sample.

ABSTRACT

This study explored the associations among injury-related appearance changes experienced during deployment/combat, symptom severity of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and body image distress within a treatment-seeking veteran population (n = 91). Thirty-three percent of the sample reported having an appearance-related residual injury experienced during combat or deployment (n = 30). A subsample, who completed the body image distress measure (n = 69), was divided into two groups those with an appearance-related residual injury (n = 22) and those without an appearance-related residual injury (n = 47). Correlational analyses revealed significant, positive correlations between body image distress and depression symptom severity. Results also showed a trend relationship between body image distress and post-traumatic stress disorder symptom severity for those with an appearance-related residual injury although correlations were nonsignificant among these constructs for those without an appearance-related residual injury. Multiple regression analyses revealed that body image distress was a unique predictor of depression symptom severity, controlling for residual injury status. Implications of these findings for exploring the psychological impact of residual injury were discussed.