Naslov
Cortisol, Suicidality and Spiritual Well-Being in Croatian War Veterans Suffering from PTSD

Autori
Nađ, Sanea ; Vuksan-Cusa, Bjanka ; Murgić, Lucija ; Koić, Elvira

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Izvornik
European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health (RSH08). May 1-3, 2008, Bern, Switzerland / Hefti, Rene ; Heusser, Peter ; Jean-Marc, Burgunder - Bern : Research Institute for Spirituality and Health ; Institute of Complementary Medicine, Departement of Neurology, University of Bern, 2008

Skup
European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health.

Mjesto i datum
Bern, Švicarska, 01.05.2008. - 03.05.2008

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
psychology; spiritual; religiosity; wellbeing; PTSD; suicidal risk; cortisol; test

Sažetak
Lately biological, psychological and spiritual parameters have been frequently associated together with the wellbeing of the psychiatric patients. War veterans suffering from PTSD reveal a low basal plasma cortisol level and an enhanced cortisol response to the dexamethasone test, what is a reflection of a hypersensitive of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HHA). The level of HHA disregulation can be caused by many factors ; amongst the others it depends also on the spirituality/religiosity level. The aim of our work is to observe the relationship between the cortisol level, the level of spiritual wellbeing and its components (religious and existential well-being), and suicidal tendency in Croatian war veterans suffering from PTSD. The survey has been conducted on 17 war veterans satisfying the DSM-IV criteria for the PTSD diagnosis, and who did not have any serious somatic illnesses. The spiritual wellbeing has been determined by the score on the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB) ; suicidal risk was determined by the Suicide Assessment Scale (SUAS) and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) ; the plasma cortisol level was obtained by venepunction from the cubital vein and we obtained an excretion curve for every examinee (8, 12, 13, 16, 22 hours). The results demonstrate higher cortisol level in the group with lower spiritual wellbeing and higher suicide risk. Only evening cortisol (at 22 p.m.) showed statistically significant correlation with suicidal risk (p=0.001), which is perhaps because of small sample size and adjusted pharmacotherapy.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti

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