Best evidence topic report. The relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and affective disorder.

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether the presence of affective disorder in victims of assault alters the chances of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In all, 133 papers were found using the reported searches, of which 8 presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that PTSD and affective disorder are related and often occur at the same time.