PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WOUNDED AND DISABLED CROATIAN WAR VETERANS

Objective: Evaluation of the psychological state of a group of 119 Cro atian disabled war veterans who suffered grave traumatic war experienc es during the war in Croatia (1991-1992). Methods: Semistructured Clin ical Interview, Profile Index Emotions test, and Zung's Self-Rating De pression Scale were used to assess disabled war veterans accommodated in special institutions for rehabilitation, Results: Changes in psycho logical functioning were established in 63.8% of disabled war veterans , the most frequent among them being indisposition, irritability, anxi ety, and fear. In nearly half of the veterans there were changes in th eir relationships with close persons, difficulties in accepting the re ality of their situations, and increased aggressiveness, Higher averag e values on the depression index (0.52) were also established. Conclus ion: The established change in the psychological profile of disabled C roatian war veterans was lower than expected. However, because of thei r great vulnerability, it is necessary to increase efforts to secure t heir complete psychosocial recovery.