Old and new problems of combatant posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Background: Almost all studies describe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is relatively new diagnostic category as accepted by ICD-10: trauma, re-experience avoidance and increased arousal. The purpose of this study was to determine the “pathos” of the disease (personality features), factors, forming in the “hot point” and the “nosos” of PTSD as a dynamical active pathological process, starting in the peaceful life. Material and methods: We used a battery of methods of investigation, auditioning each other, including statistical methods. The patients were totally 308 male combatants aged 22-43 y. o. (main group – 174, who committed violent offence after returning from «hot point») and control group – 134 persons without such behavior, observed in the period 1993-2005 years. Results: The quality of specific adaptation to the military environment usually increases during prolonged stay in it. This way, in the main group were found heightened frequency of readiness to vital emotionally-affective manifestations, unconscious fear with the feeling of increasing threat, objectless anxiety, insomnia and nightmares, depression with groundless worries or with monotonous non-expressed melancholy, non systematic self-accusation ideas, vacancy towards everything around, “tiredness of life”. Asthenia together with vital tonus decreasing, hyperesthesia, hyper pathia, incontinence of emotions, psychic numbing dysmnesia also were created, but previously in the second group. In the main group (with violence behavior) often was mentioned combat brutalization. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the “pathos” of the disease (new reactive abilities, negative personal changes) appears and only after coming back to the peaceful life, under an impact of additional insalubrities and the “nosos” of PTSD is formed as a dynamical active pathological process. Obtained data may indirectly indicate opened aggressive behavior’s opportunity (prediction) in combatants.