Posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from war traumas and its forensic-psychiatric meaning

Abstract

Twenty-five members of the Croatian army and police were submitted to forensic-psychiatric examination in order to assess their responsibility at the time they committed various criminal acts directly or indirectly connected with the war situation in the Republic of Croatia. Court orders to provide expert opinions on these subjects put special emphasis on the question of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder and its potential influence on the assessment of responsibility. The study was carried out in the Centre for Forensic Psychiatry of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapce in Zagreb between October 1991 and March 1993. In addition to the usual diagnostic treatment, and taking into account the operational diagnostic criteria according to the DSM-IH-R, each subject had to undergo psychodynamically oriented analysis aimed at recognizing the unconscious dynamics that made him commit the criminal act and prompted the manner of its commission. On the basis of this investigation, the author gives suggestions for formulating forensic-psychiatric criteria to evaluate the importance of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder in the assessment of criminal responsibility. These criteria include some specific war situations observed in Croatia that the author finds relevant to the problem discussed in this paper.