PSYCHICAL DIFFICULTIES IN FORMER PRISONERS OF DETENTION CAMPS

The war imprisonment is a traumatic experience which is generally cons idered to have a potential to cause various psychical difficulties, in particular the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During the aggre ssion on Croatia, several thousands of Croatian soldiers and civilians were held in Serbian detention camps where they were tortured to exte nt of extreme stress. In this paper the authors researched psychical e ffects of stress in former war prisoners. Examinees were observed in t hree separate groups. The first group was formed of all former prisone rs of war (a total of 1458) that went through several medical examinat ions, including psychiatric one, after their release from detention ca mps. Examinations were performed at the University Clinic for Infectio us Diseases >>Dr. Fran Mihaljevic<< in Zagreb, in. period from Novembe r 1991 to September 1992. The second group consisted of 82 former pris oners randomly chosen from a total of 735 prisoners released from the >>Sremska Mitrovica<< camp in August 1992. The third group contained 3 7 prisoners from >>Manjaca<< camp out of 100 invited to the control ex amination 6 months after their release; A classic psychiatric diagnost ic interview was performed in. all of the examinees immediately after their release, and in the 2(nd) and the 3(rd) group the modified Watso n's PTSD questionnaire was also used in. addition. In the 2(nd) group, prisoners were questioned immediately after they were released Using classical psychiatric interview, a specific psychiatric diagnosis coul d have been established in 20% cases. Psychiatric symptoms were observ ed in 30-40% examinees (in 36% of former >>Manjaca<< camp prisoners). Through the use of Watson's questionnaire, a PTSD diagnosis was establ ished in 85.7% (70 out of 82) prisoners of the 2(nd) group, and in 27% of the 3(rd) investigated group of prisoners. Former prisoners examin ed after release (the 2(nd) group) showed significantly higher prevale nce of PTSD symptoms. All PSTD symptoms were found in more than. 50% c ases of the 2(nd) group, while in the 3(rd) group none of the symptoms were found in more then half of examinees. Results are discussed and one among the direct conclusions is that former prisoners of war, expe cting their problems to disappear spontaneously, are unwilling to seek for psychiatric help.