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- Title
Psychological assessment of chemical injured war veterans compared to non-chemical injured war veterans.
- Authors
Mohaghegh-Motlagh, Seyed-Jafar; Arab, Atieh; Momtazi, Saeed; Musavi-Nasab, Seyed-Nureddin; Saburi, Amin
- Abstract
Introduction Chemical weapons induce various and long-lasting physical complications that can affect mental health. We assessed the psychiatric status of chemical and non-chemical injured war veterans. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study on chemical and non-chemical war injured veterans. The Persian version of the Beck Depressive Inventory, Social Anxiety Scale and both the PTSD Checklist- Military and Impact of Event Scale- Revised were used for evaluation of psychiatric condition. Data were analyzed and compared using SPSS version 16 and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The prevalence of clinical depression was 47.5% and 48.3%, for anxiety it was 11.3% and 7.9%, and for post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) it was 40% and 28.1% in chemical and non-chemical injured veterans, respectively. Depression, anxiety and PTSD prevalence and scales did not show any significant difference between chemical and non-chemical war injured veterans ( P < 0.05). There was a relationship between these variables and some factors, such as type of soldier dispatch by military organizations ( P < 0.05) and their occupations ( P < 0.05), but there was no relationship between these and accident time, literacy, and type of chemical agents ( P > 0.05). Discussion In the literature, the mental health of civilians who have been exposed to chemical agents could be affected because of long-term adverse consequences, but in the present study psychological condition did not show any difference between chemical and non-chemical war injured veterans. Further investigation on veterans is necessary.
- Subjects
MENTAL health of veterans; COMPARATIVE studies; CHEMICAL weapons; WAR wounds; PSYCHOLOGICAL tests; CHEMICAL warfare agents; MENTAL depression
- Publication
Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 2012, Vol 4, Issue 3, p189
- ISSN
1758-5864
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1758-5872.2012.00207.x