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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1476978
The Relationship Between Language Features and PTSD Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted- Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between language features and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to determine if language features can serve as a reliable index for rapid screening and assessing PTSD.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed using Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and Ovid databases, augmented by backward reference tracking, to gather pertinent literature concerning language features and traumatic stress disorders published until August 2024.Results: Twelve observational studies were included, comprising a cumulative sample size of 5,706 cases. Various language analysis tools, such as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), manual coding, and machine learning techniques, were employed in the studies. Meta-analysis findings revealed a positive correlation between death-related words and PTSD symptoms (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.10 to 1.59, I² 79.4%, p = 0.004), as well as significant positive correlations between negative emotion words and PTSD symptoms (OR 1.21, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.32, I² 30.5%, p < 0.001), angerrelated words and PTSD symptoms (OR 1.14, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.17, I² 0.0%, p < 0.001), word count and PTSD symptoms (OR 1.20, 95%CI 1.09 to 1.31, I² 11.2%, p < 0.001). Additionally, a positive correlation was observed between body-related words and hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD (OR 1.
Keywords: Language features, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Meta-analysis, Trauma, Rapid screening
Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Gu, Shen and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yonghong Shen, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.