engleski

Acute post-traumatic stress disorder in prisoners of war released from detention camps

The aim of the present study was to assess acute psychiatric disturbances in Croatian prisoners of war (POWs) released after 6-9 months of detention. Immediately (1-3 days) after exchange with the other side, 47 prisoners of war were examined at the Zagreb University Clinic for Infectious Diseases by a team of medical professionals to assess their physical and psychological health, and therapeutic needs. The team consisted of a general practitioner, surgeon, infectious diseases specialist, psychiatrist and clinical psychologist. All prisoners were active soldiers from Vukovar, and were of similar age, social background, combat activity and duration of detention. All were severly physically and psychically maltreated in the detention camp. Sixteen (34%) had symptoms of current post-traumatic stress syndrome as assessed by the Watsons PTSD questionnaire. In a structured clinical interview, all POWs reported at least 2 (average 8-9) symptoms of psychological disturbance. All POWs ranked the withdrawal of information on their families and the situation in Croatia as the most painful experience during detention. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-201 version) profiles of the prisoners of war showed a significant difference between the POWs with and without diagnosed PTSD on the paranoia scale. In conclusion, although only one third of the POWs released after 6-9 months of detention and torture had manifest PTSD, most had several symptoms of psychological disturbances with dominating anxiotic-depressive and psychosomatic reactions. Careful follow-up is needed to asses the extent and late consequences of polytrauma experienced by this high-risk group.

posttraumatic stress disorder; prisoners of war; detention camps

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