Natalie Mota

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Manitoba

Objective This study examined baseline risk and protective predictors and interim correlates of the persistence/recurrence, remission, and onset of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a 16-year prospective, nationally representative sample of Canadian Forces members and veterans. Methods The 2018 Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Ment...

Criterion E2 (“reckless or self-destructive behavior”) was added to the DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria to reflect the established association between PTSD and risky and unhealthy behaviors (RUBs); however, previous research has questioned its clinical significance. To determine whether criterion E2 adequately captures reckless/...

Objective: To evaluate the association between trauma exposure type, number and type of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and binge eating symptoms. Methods: Data were analyzed from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III: 2012-2013), which surveyed a nationally representative sample...

The current study examined the nature and correlates of seven-year posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom courses in a nationally representative, prospective cohort of U.S. military veterans. Data were analyzed from 2,307 trauma-exposed veterans who completed at least one follow-up assessment over a 7-year period, a subsample of n = 3,157 vet...

Objective: To compare the rate of mental disorders (i.e., mood and anxiety, substance use, psychotic disorders) and suicide attempts within the same group of women across the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and postpartum periods, and between this perinatal cohort and a non-perinatal reference group. Method: Data were from an administrative repository...

Objectives Public safety personnel (PSP) are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of communities, often putting their own lives and well-being at risk by performing dangerous and demanding work. As a result, these workers are particularly vulnerable to workplace-related physical and mental traumatic injuries. Research is needed to under...

Tension reduction theory suggests that socially anxious emerging adults use cannabis to cope with negative affect. However, the literature is mixed, indicating that the effect of social anxiety on cannabis use behaviors during emerging adulthood may depend on other moderating factors, such as negative urgency. This study aimed to clarify potential...

Objectives Military sexual trauma (MST) is a prevalent issue among actively serving members and Veterans, and is associated with adverse health outcomes including mental disorders. This study sought to identify correlates and protective factors for the development of mental disorders among Canadian MST survivors. Methods We analyzed data from part...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for families of young children, with high rates of maternal mental health challenges and parenting stress. Past research draws an important link between the long-standing toll on the wellbeing of mothers, as well as the intergenerational impact for children when mothers suffer from mental health...

Background First episode psychosis can significantly impact both young people and their loved ones who provide support. Recognizing that a young person is experiencing psychosis can be a crucial first step in accessing appropriate services. Higher mental health literacy may facilitate improved symptom recognition and reduce the stigma associated wi...

BACKGROUND Preoperative state anxiety (PSA) is distress and anxiety directly associated to perioperative events. PSA is associated with negative postoperative outcomes like longer hospital length of stay, increased pain, higher opioid use, and higher rates of re-hospitalization. Psychological prehabilitation such as education, exposure to hospital...

Background Preoperative state anxiety (PSA) is distress and anxiety directly associated with perioperative events. PSA is associated with negative postoperative outcomes such as longer hospital length of stay, increased pain and opioid use, and higher rates of rehospitalization. Psychological prehabilitation, such as education, exposure to hospital...

Background Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide prevalence of maternal depression has risen sharply; it is now estimated that one quarter of mothers experience clinically significant depression symptoms. Exposure to maternal depression during early childhood increases the risk for the development of childhood mental illness (MI)...

Objective: Cannabis use among veterans in Canada is an understudied public health priority. The current study examined cannabis use prevalence and the relationships between child maltreatment histories and deployment-related traumatic events (DRTEs) with past 12-month cannabis use including sex differences among Canadian veterans. Method: Data w...

Objective: This study examined mental health symptoms, help-seeking, and coping differences between Canadian essential workers (EWs) versus non-EWs, as well as common COVID-related concerns and longitudinal predictors of mental health symptoms among EWs only. Design: An online, longitudinal survey (N = 1260; response rate (RR) = 78.5%) assessing...

Background: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide prevalence of maternal depression has risen sharply; it is now estimated that one-quarter of mothers experience clinically significant depression symptoms. Exposure to maternal depression during early childhood increases the risk for the development of childhood mental illness (MI)...

Background: Potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs) are common during military service. However, it is unclear to what extent PMIEs are related to well-established adverse mental health outcomes. Objective: The objective of this study was to use a population-based survey to determine the associations between moral injury endorsement and t...

Background Traumatic events are associated with psychological and physical health problems for women in the perinatal period (i.e., pregnancy-12-months after childbirth). Despite the negative impact of trauma on perinatal women, the long-term impact of such diverse trauma and women’s experience during the perinatal period remains understudied. Met...

Background Clinically elevated preoperative distress and anxiety are common among patients undergoing cancer surgery. Preoperative interventions have been developed to mitigate this distress and anxiety but are inconsistent in efficacy and feasibility for broad implementation. Objective This preliminary pilot study aims to assess the feasibility a...

BACKGROUND Clinically elevated preoperative distress and anxiety are common among patients undergoing cancer surgery. Preoperative interventions have been developed to mitigate this distress and anxiety but are inconsistent in efficacy and feasibility for broad implementation. OBJECTIVE This preliminary pilot study aims to assess the feasibility a...

Background: Sleep disturbance is associated with mental health symptomatology, but this impact is understudied during COVID-19. The aims of this study are to: 1) examine correlates of sleep disturbance, and 2) examine the longitudinal relationship between sleep disturbance and mental health symptoms 6 months later, during the pandemic. Methods:...

Few studies have examined the longitudinal courses of anxiety disorders in military members. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of courses of any anxiety disorder in members and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, including no lifetime, remitted, new onset, and persistent/recurrent anxiety disorder. The 2018 Canadian Armed Forces...

Introduction Military sexual trauma (MST) is an ongoing problem. We used a 2002 population-based sample, followed up in 2018, to examine: (1) the prevalence of MST and non-MST in male and female currently serving members and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, and (2) demographic and military correlates of MST and non-MST. Methods Data came fro...

Objectives: Despite a higher prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and greater severity and chronicity of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in females than males, sex-differences in explanations for the PTSD-CVD relationship are lacking. This study examined sex-differences in the role of health risk factors in mediating the relationship bet...

Objective Preoperative distress is commonly experienced by surgical patients and is associated with adverse health-related outcomes. Research suggests preoperative distress may be elevated among cancer surgery patients relative to other surgical groups and there appears to be greater recognition of the adverse impacts of distress for these patients...

Objective: To examine the incidence and predictors of suicide attempts and deaths in the year after psychiatric hospitalization. Methods: A population-based dataset was used to develop a cohort of individuals 18 years or older admitted with a mental disorder (defined by ICD-10 codes) from 2005 to 2016 (n = 26,975) in Manitoba, Canada. Using Cox re...

Young adulthood (ages 18 to 30 years old), a developmental age of exploration, is marked by new experiences and transitions. Cannabis use frequency is highest in young adulthood compared to other age periods. Social anxiety (characterized by fear, shyness, and inhibition in social situations where scrutiny and judgment is possible) is also prevalen...

Background A growing body of research highlights the experiences of moral injury among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral injury (i.e., participating in or witnessing acts that violate one's central moral values), is associated with a host of psychological sequelae and corresponding negative psychosocial impacts. There is...

Objectives The traumatic nature of high-risk military deployment events, such as combat, is well-recognized. However, whether other service-related events and demographic factors increase the risk of moral injury (MI), which is defined by consequences of highly stressful and morally-laden experiences, is poorly understood. Therefore, the objective...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder that can result from experiencing traumatic events. Accurate diagnosis and optimal treatment strategies can be difficult to achieve, due to the heterogeneous etiology and symptomology of PTSD, and overlap with other psychiatric disorders. Advancing our understanding of PTSD pa...

Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical health conditions commonly co-occur and are both prevalent among military personnel. This study examined how courses of PTSD (no PTSD, remitted, new onset, persistent/recurrent) are associated with physical health conditions, among a population-based sample of Canadian military personnel....

Objective The life course of children and adolescents with mental disorders is an important area of investigation, yet it remains understudied. This study provides a first-ever comprehensive examination of the relationship between child and adolescent mental disorders and subsequent suicidal and adverse social outcomes in early adulthood using popu...

Objective This study examined mental health profiles of pregnant and postpartum females, with and without perinatal complications, compared to non-perinatal females of childbearing age. Methods We analyzed nationally representative data from the 2012–2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (N = 36,309; 51.9% female). A...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a well-established risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Historically, guidelines for treating PTSD have recommended against the use of trauma-focused therapies with patients who are high-risk for suicide likely due to concerns about potential suicide-related iatrogenesis, specifically the “trigger...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a well-established risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Historically, guidelines for treating PTSD have recommended against the use of trauma-focused therapies with patients who are high-risk for suicide likely due to concerns about potential suicide-related iatrogenesis, specifically the “trigger...

Purpose: The interplay between critical illness and mental disorders is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to measure both the treated prevalence of mental disorders and psychotropic medication use before and after hospitalization and the impact of intensive care unit (ICU) admission on these outcomes. Methods: Using a population-ba...

Objectives There is growing recognition of illness-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), defined by illness being the index trauma that induces PTSD symptoms. This is the first study to examine 1) the lifetime prevalence of illness–induced PTSD among military personnel and veterans, and its 2) sociodemographic, military, trauma, and physic...

BACKGROUND Over 85% of active members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have been exposed to potentially traumatic events linked to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). At the time of transition to civilian life, as high as one in eight Veterans has a diagnosis of PTSD. Given high rates of PTSD in military and Veteran populatio...

Background: Over 85% of active members of the Canadian Armed Forces have been exposed to potentially traumatic events linked to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). At the time of transition to civilian life, as high as 1 in 8 veterans may be diagnosed with PTSD. Given the high prevalence of PTSD in military and veteran populat...

Dissociative symptoms and suicidality are transdiagnostic features of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). The primary objective of this study was to examine associations between dissociation (i.e., depersonalization and derealization) and suicidality (i.e., self‐harm and suicide attempts) among individual...

Early exposure to maternal depression is a key risk factor for child mental illness (MI), but there are limited programs that interrupt intergenerational transmission. The BRIDGE “Building Regulation in Dual Generations” Program treats maternal MI using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills with a paired curriculum that promotes non-reactive and emot...

The mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are gaining attention. While many are experiencing increased stress due to COVID-19, some perceive the pandemic as traumatic. This preliminary study identified respondents who endorsed a COVID-19-related trauma as their most stressful traumatic experience (i.e., index trauma). We analyzed data from...

Les interventions à faible intensité et à volume élevé (LI-HV) sont de plus en plus reconnues comme un moyen de communiquer les principes psychologiques et de fournir des services à ceux qui ont des besoins en soins de santé mentale non satisfaits. Le présent article décrit plusieurs applications différentes des interventions LI-HV dans une provinc...

Objective: The current study used the Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Mental Health Follow-up Survey (CAFVMHS) to (1) examine the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders and (2) estimate the comorbidity of mental disorders over the follow-up period. Method: The CAFVMHS (2018) is a longitudinal study with two time points of assess...

Objectives: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with various physical health conditions. However, it is unclear whether the relationship between PTSD and physical health conditions differs according to age. This study aims to examine the associations between PTSD and physical health conditions across four adult age categories. Method...

Introduction A history of childhood maltreatment is associated with increased risk of perinatal complications, with research primarily focused on childhood sexual abuse. Limited research has examined the relationship between different types of childhood maltreatment on perinatal complications, particularly in population-based samples. Methods This...

Le nombre croissant de recherches sur la COVID-19 a démontré les impacts physiques, mentaux, sociaux et financiers sur les populations du monde entier. Or, il y a une absence de recherche, racontée par les voix uniques du grand public, durant les premières étapes critiques de l'émergence de la pandémie et des restrictions liées à la pandémie, décri...

Objective Mental health among military personnel is an important public health priority. It is known that military personnel experience a high prevalence of child maltreatment and deployment-related traumatic events (DRTEs) and both are related to mental health outcomes. However, few, if any, studies have examined the cumulative and interactive eff...

Objectives The present report is the first study of Canadian military personnel to use longitudinal survey data to identify factors that determine major depressive episodes (MDEs) over a period of 16 years. Methods The study used data from the Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Mental Health Follow-up Survey (CAFVMHS) collected in 2018 ( n...

United States (U.S.) veterans are substantially older than their non-veteran counterparts. However, nationally representative, population-based data on the unique health needs of this population are lacking. Such data are critical to informing the design of large-scale outreach initiatives, and to ensure the effectiveness of service care delivery b...

Objective Knowledge is limited regarding the longitudinal course and predictors of mental health problems, suicide, and physical health outcomes among military and veterans. Statistics Canada, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manitoba and an international team, conducted the Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Mental He...

Early exposure to maternal depression is a key risk factor for child mental illness (MI), but there are limited programs that interrupt intergenerational transmission. The BRIDGE “Building Regulation in Dual GEnerations” Program treats maternal MI using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills with a paired curriculum that promotes non-reactive and emot...

Objective: To estimate incidence of newly diagnosed mental disorders among ICU patients. Design: Retrospective-matched cohort study using a population-based administrative database. Setting: Manitoba, Canada. Participants: A total of 49,439 ICU patients admitted between 2000 and 2012 were compared with two control groups (hospitalized: n = 1...

Objective Understand the relationship between criminal accusations, victimization, and mental disorders at a population level using administrative data from Manitoba, Canada. Method Residents aged 18 to 64 between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2012 ( N = 793,024) with hospital- and physician-diagnosed mental disorders were compared to those without...

This qualitative study explored the fit between on-reserve First Nations community members’ conceptualizations of help-seeking for mental health concerns and the Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Services Use. Youth, adults and elders (N = 115) living and or working in eight distinct First Nations communities within a tribal council area in Canad...

More than 10 million people are imprisoned around the world, with many more who encounter the justice system. However, most studies examining the mental health burden in the justice system have examined only incarcerated individuals, with few looking at both criminal offending and victimization at the population-level. This study aimed to describe...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly comorbid with a range of physical health conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the association between index trauma and PTSD symptom clusters with physical health conditions, among individuals with PTSD in a population-based sample. Data were analyzed from the 2012-2013 National Epidemiolo...

Objective: Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been associated with a variety of physical conditions; however, their relationship with cancer is unclear. Methods: Using the cross-sectional 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III; N = 36,309), we examined the association between trau...

Background Ensuring equitable and timely access to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is challenging within Canada’s service delivery model. The current study aims to determine acceptability and effectiveness of 4-session, large, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Mindfulness (CBTm) classes. Methods A retrospective chart review of adult outpatients (...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms commonly co-occur with reckless and self-destructive behaviors (RSDBs; e.g., substance use, aggression). To better understand comorbidity mechanisms between RSDBs and PTSD symptom clusters (best-fitting PTSD model), this study examined their latent-level relations. Methodologically, the current study us...

A significant minority of unspecified psychosis presentations progress to schizophrenia. Clinical risk factors can inform targeted referral to specialized treatment programs, but few population studies have examined this. In this study, we used health administrative data for a population-based cohort from Manitoba, Canada to characterize the risk a...

Introduction: The current study examined associations between DSM-5 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and three sexual risk outcomes: presence of a sexually transmitted disease/infection, frequency of condom use, and sex with a known user of injection drugs. Methods: Data were from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Con...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating pathology are frequently comorbid, and both are independent risk factors for various medical conditions. Using population-based data collected as part of the 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III; N = 36,309), the primary objectives of this study were to...

Military sexual trauma (MST) is associated with a range of negative mental and physical health outcomes. Investigations of potential sex-based differences in outcomes in MST survivors have been inconsistent with little work evaluating psychosocial correlates of resilience (e.g., social support, humor, capacity to adapt to change). Data were analyze...

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain conditions and mental disorders have high prevalence rates in military populations. However, few investigations have examined the comorbidity between chronic pain conditions and specific mental disorders among Canadian active military personnel. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2013 Canadian Force...

Introduction The relationship between childhood/adolescent mental disorders and adult outcomes has been studied using surveys and clinical samples. These studies are prone to selection, recall and self-reporting biases. No previous studies have used population-based administrative databases linking individual-level data that could address these bia...

1 Background The comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders (MD and AD) with substance use disorders (SUD) is common. One explanation for this comorbidity is the self‐medication hypothesis, which posits that individuals with MD or AD use substances to cope with the difficult symptoms associated with the disorder. Over time, self‐medication (SM) can...

Given elevated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among US military veterans, identifying correlates of PTSD and specific PTSD symptom clusters that best represent PTSD in veterans (i.e., the five-factor Dysphoric Arousal model) is critical to prevention and intervention efforts. One potential correlate is locus of control (i.e., the ext...

Objective: The current study compared physical and mental health characteristics and quality of life of illness-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) versus those with PTSD due to external traumatic events in a population-based sample. Method: PTSD was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule (...

Objective: Resilience has been associated with less severe psychiatric symptomatology and better treatment outcomes among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD). However, it remains unknown whether resilience increases during psychotherapy within the comorbid PTSD and SUD population with unique feat...

Introduction: An Expert Panel on suicide prevention convened October 23–26, 2016 to review current practices and recommend suicide prevention strategies for the Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS). It included subject matter experts from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and representatives from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). Me...

Background We investigated trans‐generational associations between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in World Trade Center (WTC) responders and behavioral problems in their children. Methods Participants were WTC responders—8034 police and 8352 non‐traditional (eg, construction workers)—with one or more children at the time of their f...

The current study aimed to understand how active duty service women with low levels of current psychological distress make sense of their military experiences in ways that might contribute to psychological well-being. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with active duty female members in the Canadian Forces and transcripts were analyzed using...

Background: Previous research examining the association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphism and risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been inconsistent due to the use of small and select samples. This study examined the relation between APOE genotype and PTSD symptoms in two nationally representative samples of U.S. milit...

To the Editor The study by Walter et al¹ in JAMA Psychiatry used national registry data to examine mortality risk in the year following discharge among those who underwent psychiatric hospitalization compared with individuals without a history of hospitalization. The authors found a 16-fold higher risk of premature death among those who had been ad...

Background Physical punishment of children is an important public health concern. Yet, few studies have examined how physical punishment is related to other types of child maltreatment and violence across the lifespan. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to examine if harsh physical punishment (i.e., being pushed, grabbed, shoved, hit...

This study aimed to identify and predict inconsistency in perceived trauma severity reports over time among trauma survivors. Hospitalized adult survivors of a traumatic injury completed trauma exposure assessments within 40 days post-injury and 6 weeks later (n = 77). The following trauma severity characteristics were examined: (1) threat of loss...

Objective: There is a high occurrence of sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among people with substance use disorders and an established association between substance use and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but no research has examined associations between combinations of these traumas and PTSD symptom profiles among peo...

Although many cross-sectional studies have examined the correlates of psychological resilience in U.S. military veterans, few longitudinal studies have identified long-term predictors of resilience in this population. The current prospective cohort study utilized data from a nationally representative sample of 2157 U.S. military veterans who comple...

Objective: With the publication of DSM-5, important changes were made to the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including the addition of 3 new symptoms. Some have argued that these changes will further increase the already high rates of comorbidity between PTSD and other psychiatric disorders. This study examined the pr...

Objectives: Objectives were to: (a) identify the mental health needs of older and younger sexual minority and heterosexual U.S. veterans and (b) examine whether sexual minority status confers vulnerability or resiliency in older adulthood. Support and trauma exposure were examined as potential mechanisms for age by sexual orientation differences....

Hostility is associated with substantial mental and physical health consequences. Population-based data regarding the nature and longitudinal course of hostility in U.S. veterans are scarce. We analyzed data from 2,157 U.S. veterans who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a nationally representative, prospective co...

Polymorphisms in the FK506 Binding Protein 5 (FKBP5) gene may interact with childhood abuse to increase risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of four previously identified FKBP5 putative risk SNPs (rs9296158, rs3800373, rs1360780, rs947008), childhood abuse, and...

Trajectories of disaster-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are often heterogeneous, and associated with common and unique risk factors, yet little is known about potentially modifiable psychosocial characteristics associated with low-symptom and recovering trajectories in disaster responders. A total of 4487 rescue and recovery...

Prescription opioid drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions. Individuals with chronic pain represent a large population at considerable risk of abusing opioids. The Opioid Abuse Risk Screener was developed as a comprehensive self-administered measure of potential risk that includes a wide range of critical elements noted in the literature to be...

Using data from the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) from more than 600 000 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, Brignone et al1 report in this issue of JAMA Psychiatry that a history of military sexual trauma (MST) is independently associated with postdeployment homelessness over a 5-year period. Importantly, this association was ind...

Aims: To analyze data from a large, contemporary, nationally representative sample of U.S. veterans to evaluate: (1) the prevalence of lifetime alcohol use disorder (AUD), and past-year AUD; (2) common psychiatric comorbidities associated with lifetime AUD; and (3) correlates of lifetime and past-year probable AUD. Design: Data were analyzed fro...