WRTE, war-related traumatic
experience; PWRS, postwar-related stress. Traumatic and stressful events experienced by adults with different flight paths Profile of traumatic events and exposure to stress In a second study, we looked at the types of stressful and traumatic events and situations experienced during and after the war by adults with different Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical flight paths (returnees, displaced people, and “stayers”).11 The study was carried out in a total sample of 501 subjects consisting of 5 subgroups of returnees, displaced people, or stayers, from Sarajevo (capital of BosniaHerzegovina) and Banya Luka and Prijedor (northwest of Sarajevo, now in the Serb Republic). We used a NU7026 cost Checklist taken from the first section of the Modified Posttraumatic Stress Symptom scale (PSS) made up of 130 different traumatic and stressful events. For convenience of evaluation, these 130 items were divided into 10 different event clusters (groups), such as total events in war zone, expulsion and flight, time spent in concentration camps or temporary shelters, etc, and statistical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical evaluation was carried out separately
for each event group (Table III). Table III War events and displacements. One of the most important findings Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was that the Sarajevo returnees had about as much exposure to the war and war events as the two displaced groups from the Serb Republic. The returnees and displaced people had spent a great deal of time in temporary shelters and collective centers (Table Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical IV). Not
surprisingly, all subjects had experienced appalling losses. Subjects housed in collective centers are those experiencing a particularly high level of current stress (see next section). Each group had a distinctive profile of traumatic events and other stressors. ‘Ihc Banja Luka stayers seemed to have been somewhat better off, while the two Sarajevo groups experienced the highest number of traumatic events and other stressors. It should be noted that exsoldiers were not excluded from the study population. Table IV Vicarious traumatization and losses. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Correlation with current symptoms Most of the events and event groups described are correlated with current psychological distress: the greater the subjects’ exposure to such events, the worse their current symptoms of distress. We used the SCL-90-R Symptom Checklist to measure these symptoms.12 This checklist records psychologically relevant symptoms, such as headaches, anxiety, or hearing voices MYO10 that are not there.12 It should be stressed that the mere presence of a correlation between the occurrence of a given group of events and the presence of current symptoms does not necessarily imply that a causal relationship exists. For instance, it is possible that some groups of events are highly correlated with symptoms just because they occurred together with other events which themselves have a genuine causal relationship with symptoms.