Heterogeneity of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in Croatian war veterans: retrospective study.
Year: 2007
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: AIM: To determine the relationship between the intensity of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the intensity of predominating symptoms. METHOD: The study included 151 veterans from 1992-1995 war in Croatia (aged 38.3+/-7.3 years) with PTSD. The veterans were psychologically tested with the Mississippi Scale for Combat-related PTSD (M-PTSD), Questionnaire on Traumatic Combat and War Experiences (USTBI-M), and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-version 201 (MMPI-201). RESULTS: The discriminative analysis of the data revealed that the group with lower PTSD intensity had the highest scores on MMPI scales D (depression, T-score 98.3+/-5.6), Hs (hypochondriasis, 90.1+/-5.1), and Hy (hysteria, 89.5+/-4.9), whereas the group with higher PTSD intensity, besides these three scales (D=95.7+/-5.3; Hs=87.6+/-4.3; Hy=85.6+/-4.7), also had clinically significantly elevated Pt (psychastenia, 80.6+/-5.6), Sc (schizophrenia, 79.6+/-4.8), and Pa (paranoia, 85.6+/-5.4) scales, with the highest Pa scale. CONCLUSION: It was possible to differentiate study participants with different PTSD intensity on the basis of their MMPI profile. More intense PTSD was associated with externalized symptoms, such as aggression, acting-out, hostility, and mistrust, whereas less intensive PTSD was associated with mostly depressive symptoms. Our study showed that different intensity of PTSD has different symptom patterns.
Source: PubMed Central
Authors: Drazen Begić, Natasa Jokić-Begić
Institution: University Hospital Centre Zagreb
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W141484234