PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG RESERVISTS IN THE PERSIAN-GULF-WAR

This study was conducted as a preliminary investigation into the prese nce and nature of psychological distress among military reserve person nel as a result of their participation in the Persian Gulf War. Eleven months after cessation of hostilities in the Gulf War, a self-report survey was mailed to the home of each of the 1090 members who had been assigned to the study Air National Guard unit during this period. Aft er unit activation in December 1990, 517 of these individuals were dep loyed to the Persian Gulf as participants in Operation Desert Storm. T he remainder of the unit participated in their military service during this period without being deployed to the Persian Gulf. The survey co nsisted of a demographic section, the Mississippi Scale for Combat Rel ated Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (M-PTSD), the revised Symptom Check list 90 (SCL-90-R), and an anecdotal response section; 46% of those su rveyed responded. The major finding of the study was that 6.8% of the respondents who served in the combat theater had elevated M-PTSD score s. This was a statistically significant finding compared with the 1.7% of those surveyed who had elevated M-PTSD scores having served at hom e (chi(2) = 6.25, df = 1, p = .01). These elevated M-PTSD scores were found despite low levels of traditional combat stressors and strong le vels of perceived public support. SCL-90-R scores were also higher in deployed versus nondeployed respondents. Although the clinical presenc e of PTSD was not established by this study, the preliminary finding o f elevated M-PTSD scores in the deployed group is suggestive of the po ssibility of clinical PTSD. This finding supports the need for further PTSD research among reservists who are exposed to nontraditional. com bat stressors. Elevated SCL-90-R scores in the deployed group also sug gest that other forms of psychological distress may have developed in a significant number of combat veterans of the Persian Gulf War.