Metin Ba?o?lu|Maria Livanou|C. Crnobari?|Tanja Fran?iškovi?|Enra Sulji?|D Duri?|Melin Vranesi?
Psychiatric and Cognitive Effects of War in Former Yugoslavia
King's College London|University of London|Universidad de Londres
although impunity responsible trauma widely thought associated psychological problems survivors political violence study yet investigated issueto examine mental health cognitive effects war trauma appraisal redress trauma beliefs justice safety people war cause religion relate posttraumatic stress responses war survivorsa crosssectional survey conducted march 2000 july 2002 populationbased sample 1358 war survivors experienced least 1 warrelated stressor combat torture internal displacement refugee experience siege andor aerial bombardment 4 sites former yugoslavia accessed linkage sampling control groups 2 study sites matched survivors sex age educationsemistructured interview survivors war redress trauma survivors questionnaire emotions beliefs war questionnaire structured clinical interview diagnostic statistical manual mental disorders fourth edition dsmivthe mean sd age 39 12 years 806 59 men 339 25 high school higher level education participants reported experiencing mean 126 warrelated events 292 22 451 33 current lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder ptsd respectively 129 10 current major depression total 1074 79 survivors reported sense injustice relation perceived lack redress trauma perceived impunity held responsible trauma one factors associated sense injustice relative controls survivors stronger emotional responses impunity greater fear loss control life less belief benevolence people greater loss meaning war cause stronger faith god higher rates ptsd depression fear loss control life associated ptsd depression odds ratio 291 95 ci 227374 230 95 ci 175303 respectively emotional responses impunity showed relatively weaker association ptsd 153 95 ci 116202 depression 139 95 ci 102191 appraisal redress trauma associated ptsd depressionptsd depression war survivors appear independent sense injustice arising perceived lack redress trauma fear threat safety loss control life appeared important mediating factors ptsd depression findings may important implications reconciliation efforts postwar countries effective interventions traumatized war survivors