Specific differences in trauma related symptoms between the refugees survivors of torture and refugees of war.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine specific differences in trauma related symptoms in a group of subjects who were survivors of torture and displacement compared with a group of subjects who survived displacement as a consequence of state sponsored violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


METHODS
The subjects were divided in two groups of 50 adult survivors; one group comprising of 50 survivors of displacement and torture, the other group of 50 survivors of displacement who did not experience torture. The age range of the subjects was between 20 and 60. The groups were homogenous according to all other criteria. The exclusion criteria were prior psychiatric history and the experience of a loss of secondary family (spouse or child).


METHODS
All subjects were assessed using the standardized multidimensional instrument for symptom assessment, SCL 90-R (L.R.Derogatis, 1986). Mississippi Questionnaire, (Keane et al. 1988), was used for assessment of symptoms of PTSD. Sociodemographic questionnaire designed by the authors was used for registering of the sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects.


RESULTS
The results of our study show a statistically significant difference in trauma related symptoms between a group of subjects who were refugees with the experience of torture and a group of subjects who were refugees only. The symptoms of PTSD are increased in survivors of torture to a degree that is statistically significant compared with the presence of PTSD symptoms in a group of refugees. Anxiety, depression, somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, phobic symptoms, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid and psychotic symptoms are present to a statistically higher degree in a group of refugees survivors of torture than in the group of refugees. There is also a statistically significant difference between the groups in socio-economic status in the period after the war. Refugees survivors of torture have significantly worse socio-economic situation, probably due to impairment in social functioning in these subjects.
Kucukalić
Abdulah
A
University Clinical Centre Sarajevo, Bolnicka 25, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, adokucukalic@hotmail.com.
Bravo-Mehmedbasić
Alma
A
Dzubur-Kulenović
Alma
A