Post-traumatic stress disorder among Croat soldiers in the defence war in Croatia 1991–1993

Abstract

During the Defence War in Croatia from 1991 to 1993 prospective case-control study was designed with a randomly selected sample of 60 wounded (30 with disabling and 30 with non-disabling injuries) and 30 active soldiers. They were not professionally trained soldiers, but had joined the war by spontaneously defending their homes. None of them had requested help or had any previous psychiatric diagnosis. The aim of this study is to establish the influence of the general characteristics and traumas of soldiers on the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. General characteristics and traumas between the group of soldiers who developed PTSD and those who did not were compared. A significant difference was found in the type of injuries of the soldiers between the two groups. In the group of soldiers who developed PTSD, 53 per cent had non-disabling injuries, 29 per cent permanent disabling injuries and 18 per cent were active soldiers. There was no significant difference found in the general characteristics of the study groups. We found that soldiers with non-disabling injuries (less seriously wounded) developed PTSD more often than the more seriously wounded soldiers. Less seriously wounded soldiers suffered tremendous stress caused by consciously experiencing and living through being wounded.