engleski

Occurrence and intensity of depression in displaced persons and refugees with PTSD

Diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are nowadays clearly defined, based on the existence of traumatic event and clinical features, i.e. on the existence of defined symptoms. We applied the ICD-X criteria in diagnosis procedure. According to them, "depression is often associated with other symptoms, and suicidal ideas are not rare". It is thus evident that depression is not a condition sine qua non. In accordance with the mentioned, we have established the aim of our research: to determine the incidence and intensity of depression in persons with PTSD. The investigation has been performed in 74 displaced persons and refugees (aged 18 to 67 years, both sexes), with acute PTSD. The patients were included in therapeutic procedure. At the very beginning (the patients were treated by cognitive behavioral therapy and drugs) in each patient were applied diagnostic interview, nonstructured clinical interview, Hamilton's scale for anxiety (HAMAS) and Hamilton's scale for depression (HAMDS). Applied were also other structured scales, but for this investigation diagnostic scales and HAMDS were of utmost importance. The results show that depression is not so often present in persons with PTSD as we have estimated at the beginning. Namely, if we look only at the first HAMDS item, depression is present in only 47 of the tested patients (63.5%), considering the answers in all modalities from 1 to 4. If we take into account only modalities 3 and 4, we get the positive answer in only 18 patients (24.3%). If depression is described by the total HAMDS score, the score is above 24 in only 20 patients (27.0%). It means that severe depression is present only slightly more often than in every fourth patient with PTSD.

depression; PTSD; refugees

nije evidentirano