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The results of the social support questionnaire in women in the experimental and control group Score (arithmetic mean±SD)
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Objective: To determine the correlation between social support and PTSD symptoms in women traumatized by the war and postwar social insecurity in Herzegovina. Subjects and methods: The experimental group consisted of 187 randomly selected women living in Mostar, who were exposed to a wide spectrum of traumatic events during the war. The control gro...
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The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, personal resources, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in Holocaust child survivors. Ninety-seven nonclinical Holocaust child survivors who were born after 1930 were administered self-report questionnaires with regard to PTG, psychol...
Citations
... Furthermore , it has been found that wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans have been exposed to a greater amount of psychological distress and marital problems and that their psychological adjustment was lower compared to wives of war veterans without PTSD (Ruger et al. 2002, Dekel et al. 2005, Dekel & Solomon 2006, Galovski & Lyons 2004). In addition, the partners and social surroundings of these women rarely show understanding for their mental problems (Dekel et al. 2005, Klarić et al. 2008a), which can result in developing mental disorders and slow down mental recovery. In addition, a long-term stress can trigger a range of somatic disturbances and diseases (Jakovljević et al. 2010, Cash 2006). ...
Along with primary traumatization, wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans often become victims of the altered and dysfunctional state of their partners, which adds to the severity of symptoms of primary traumatization and furthers the development of other mental disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of primary and secondary traumatization in wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans and wives of war veterans without PTSD.
The experimental group consisted of 154 wives whose veteran husbands had been treated in Mostar Clinical Hospital for psychotrauma-induced PTSD. The control group was formed of 77 wives of war veterans who do not suffer from PTSD. The research used a general demographic questionnaire, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) and the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview.
Wives of veterans with chronic PTSD experienced a significantly greater number of traumatic events (t=2.66; p=0.008) and had higher scores of PTSD symptoms (t=8.93; p<0.001). A significantly larger number of these women reported chronic somatic diseases (χ²=4.553; p=0.033). Furthermore, wives of PTSD-affected veterans significantly more frequently met criteria for current depression episode (χ²=20.65; p<0.001), past depression episode (χ²=24.40; p<0.001), depression with melancholic features (χ²=19.20; p<0.001), dysthymia (χ²=7.15; p=0.007), panic disorder with agoraphobia (χ²=5.28; p=0.022), PTSD (χ²=18.39; ss=1; p<0.001) and generalized anxiety disorder (χ²=19.58; p<0.001). This group also showed a higher level of suicidality (χ²=8.95; p=0.003).
The findings of this research show how mental difficulties experienced by wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans affect the interrelationship of their primary and secondary traumatization.
Background:
Research in crisis areas indicate that survivors' responses to the forced disappearance of family members are similar to reactions to other traumatic events. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women with war missing family members in Bosnia and Herzegovina 18 years after the war in this region (1992-1995).
Subjects and methods:
The study included 160 women aged 47.1±14.0 from three regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was carried out in the period from April 2010 to May 2011. Of the 160 participants, 120 women had a war missing family member and 40 women had no war missing family members. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) were used for data collection. Basic socio-demographic data and data concerning the missing family members were also collected.
Results:
Women with war missing family members experienced significantly more traumatic war experiences (18.43±5.27 vs 6.57±4.34, p<0.001). There was a significant difference between the two groups in the total PTSD score (2.48±0.59 vs 1.79±0.53, p<0.001), as well as in the intensity of depression (26.63±13.05 vs 10.32±6.58, p<0.001) and anxiety (21.0±10.69 vs 11.27±7.93, p<0.001). Anxiety and traumatic war experiences were significant predictors of PTSD in the group with war missing family members.
Conclusions:
Women with war missing family members showed significantly more severe PTSD symptoms. Based on the results of this study, it was determined that the forced disappearance of a family member is an ambiguous situation that can be characterized as a traumatic experience.
