RESUMO
This study examined the validity and utility of PTSD among 320 adults in Afghanistan. Findings support the validity of PTSD in this cultural context: PTSD symptoms were highly prevalent, shared common variance, and correlated as expected with exposure to traumatic stress. However, only limited support was found for the clinical utility of PTSD. Other types of psychiatric symptomatology, including depression and a culturally specific measure of general distress, correlated more highly with traumatic stress than did PTSD; and PTSD accounted for limited variance in functioning beyond that explained by depression and general distress. Implications for research and intervention are considered.
Assuntos
Campanha Afegã de 2001- , Distúrbios de Guerra/etnologia , Comparação Transcultural , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/etnologia , Adulto , Afeganistão , Ansiedade/diagnóstico , Ansiedade/epidemiologia , Ansiedade/etiologia , Ansiedade/psicologia , Distúrbios de Guerra/diagnóstico , Distúrbios de Guerra/epidemiologia , Distúrbios de Guerra/psicologia , Estudos Transversais , Depressão/diagnóstico , Depressão/epidemiologia , Depressão/etiologia , Depressão/psicologia , Feminino , Humanos , Acontecimentos que Mudam a Vida , Masculino , Inventário de Personalidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Psicometria/estatística & dados numéricos , Refugiados/psicologia , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/diagnóstico , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/epidemiologia , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/psicologia , Violência/psicologia , Ferimentos e Lesões/psicologiaRESUMO
Working in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul, the authors assessed the relative contribution of daily stressors and war-related experiences of violence and loss to levels of depression, PTSD, impaired functioning, and a culturally specific measure of general psychological distress. For women, daily stressors were a better predictor than war experiences of all mental health outcomes except for PTSD; for men, daily stressors were a better predictor of depression and functional impairment, while war experiences and daily stressors were similarly predictive of general distress. For men, daily stressors moderated the relationship between war experiences and PTSD, which was significant only under conditions of low daily stress. The study's implications for research and intervention in conflict and post-conflict settings are considered.
