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Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania

BACKGROUND: Research has suggested that organized violence and torture have long-term psychological effects that persist throughout the lifespan. The present survey aimed at examining the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders and symptoms, all present in old age, as...

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Autores principales: Bichescu, Dana, Schauer, Maggie, Saleptsi, Evangelia, Neculau, Adrian, Elbert, Thomas, Neuner, Frank
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1266057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16185364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-0179-1-17
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author Bichescu, Dana
Schauer, Maggie
Saleptsi, Evangelia
Neculau, Adrian
Elbert, Thomas
Neuner, Frank
author_facet Bichescu, Dana
Schauer, Maggie
Saleptsi, Evangelia
Neculau, Adrian
Elbert, Thomas
Neuner, Frank
author_sort Bichescu, Dana
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Research has suggested that organized violence and torture have long-term psychological effects that persist throughout the lifespan. The present survey aimed at examining the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders and symptoms, all present in old age, as long-term consequences of politically motivated violence in a comparison design. METHODS: A group of former political detainees (N = 59, mean age 73.5 years) who had been arrested by the Romanian communist regime were compared to an age- and gender-matched control group (N = 39). PTSD was assessed using a structured clinical interview (CIDI). The investigation of the clinical profile was further accomplished by self-rating measures for anxiety, depression, and health-related functioning, as well as by clinician-administrated interviews for substance abuse, dissociation, and somatization symptoms. RESULTS: Lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 54%. In the case of participants left untreated, PTSD persisted, often over four decades, such that current PTSD was diagnosed still in a third of the survivors. Other clinical conditions such as somatization, substance abuse, dissociative disorders, and major depression were also common among the former political detainees and often associated with current PTSD. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that political detention may have long-term psychological consequences that outlast the changes in the political system.
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spelling pubmed-12660572006-11-24 Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania Bichescu, Dana Schauer, Maggie Saleptsi, Evangelia Neculau, Adrian Elbert, Thomas Neuner, Frank Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health Research BACKGROUND: Research has suggested that organized violence and torture have long-term psychological effects that persist throughout the lifespan. The present survey aimed at examining the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders and symptoms, all present in old age, as long-term consequences of politically motivated violence in a comparison design. METHODS: A group of former political detainees (N = 59, mean age 73.5 years) who had been arrested by the Romanian communist regime were compared to an age- and gender-matched control group (N = 39). PTSD was assessed using a structured clinical interview (CIDI). The investigation of the clinical profile was further accomplished by self-rating measures for anxiety, depression, and health-related functioning, as well as by clinician-administrated interviews for substance abuse, dissociation, and somatization symptoms. RESULTS: Lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 54%. In the case of participants left untreated, PTSD persisted, often over four decades, such that current PTSD was diagnosed still in a third of the survivors. Other clinical conditions such as somatization, substance abuse, dissociative disorders, and major depression were also common among the former political detainees and often associated with current PTSD. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that political detention may have long-term psychological consequences that outlast the changes in the political system. BioMed Central 2005-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC1266057/ /pubmed/16185364 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-0179-1-17 Text en Copyright ©2005 Bichescu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Bichescu, Dana
Schauer, Maggie
Saleptsi, Evangelia
Neculau, Adrian
Elbert, Thomas
Neuner, Frank
Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title_full Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title_fullStr Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title_full_unstemmed Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title_short Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
title_sort long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1266057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16185364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-0179-1-17
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