OBJECTIVE: To determine the occurrence of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of women addicted to crack cocaine type. METHOD: The sample comprised 99 women, between 18 and 52 years admitted to a detoxification unit and extensively assessed by SCID-I and ASI-6. RESULTS: There was a trauma exposure rate of 86.9% among women addicted to crack cocaine type. The rate of PTSD in the sample was 15.1%. The clusters of reexperiencing and hyperarousal were the most frequent, 24.4% and 20.9% respectively. Among the types of events reported most frequently were suffering assault/physical abuse and witnessing violence to others. CONCLUSION: The results suggest a frequent exposure to traumatic events. With regard to age of the traumatic experience, it is suggested that users exposed to trauma during childhood and adolescence showed a beginning drug use at earlier ages than those whose trauma occurred in adulthood.
Childhood trauma; cocaine; substance abuse; comorbidity
