Violence without a Face: the Analysis of Testimonies of Women Who Were Sexually Assaulted During the War in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background: This study examined testimonies of women who were sexually assaulted multiple times by multiple unknown offenders. In these testimonial narratives, it is possible to detect specific modalities of traumatic event expression. This expression lacks any spatial, temporal, auditory or emotional determinants of the event.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Narrative Review.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic condition related to severe stress and trauma. There is a mounting evidence about increased prevalence and mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in patients with PTSD. This review summarizes the current data on possible relations between PTSD and increased risks of CVD, including biological, psychological and behavioral factors.

Anger in Adulthood in Participants Who Lost Their Father During the War in Croatia When They Were in Their Formative Age.

Background: Loss of parents in early childhood can have serious long-term psychological consequences. Abandoned by a close figure of attachment, many persons have developed the emotion of anger, even though the separation was caused by death. The traumatic experience of the loss of a parent is particularly hard in war, because most often it does not occur as an individual trauma.

Predicting symptom clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Croatian war veterans: the role of socio-demographics, war experiences and subjective quality of life.

Background: Previous research has documented multiple chains of risk in the development of PTSD among war veterans. However, existing studies were mostly carried out in the West, while they also did not analyze specific symptom clusters of PTSD. The aim of this study was to examine the role of socio-demographic characteristics, war experiences and subjective quality of life in the prediction of three clusters of PTSD symptoms (i.

Somatic comorbidity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk, and CRP in patients with recurrent depressive disorders.

Aim: To investigate the association between depression, metabolic syndrome (MBS), somatic, particularly cardiovascular comorbidity, and low-grade chronic inflammation assessed using C-reactive protein (CRP).

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 76 patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD) and 72 non-depressed medical staff controls from the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center Zagreb between January 2011 and June 2012.

Results: Seventy-five percent of patients had somatic comorbidity.

Pathological narcissism and depressive symptoms in psychiatric outpatients: mediating role of dysfunctional attitudes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between pathological narcissism (narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability), dysfunctional attitudes (perfectionism and dependency on other people), and depressive symptoms in psychiatric outpatients.

Method: A sample of 234 adult psychiatric outpatients (57.3% male; mean age 44.

The Connection between Alexithymia and Somatic Morbidity in a Population of Combat Veterans with Chronic PTSD.

Purpose: To investigate the connection between alexithymia and somatic illness, or, somatization, in veterans suffering from chronic combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

Methods: Croatian combat veterans (N=127) were studied at the Department of Psychology, Zagreb Clinical Hospital Center. The diagnosis of PTSD was confirmed and verified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).

Posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) from different perspectives: a transdisciplinary integrative approach.

Background: Psychotraumatization continues to be a pervasive aspect of life in the 21st century all over the world so we should better understand psychological trauma and PTSD for the sake of prevention and healing.

Method: We have made an overview of available literature on PTSD to identify explanatory models, hypotheses and theories.

Results: In this paper we describe our transdisciplinary multiperspective integrative model of PTSD based on the seven perspective explanatory approach, on the fifth discipline, the art and practice of the learning organization as well as on the method of multiple working hypotheses.

Posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) between fallacy and facts: what we know and what we don't know?

Background: PTSD been recognized as a major problem in public health and has attracted an ever-growing scientific, epistemological and clinical interest. On the other side, PTSD is one of the most controversial diagnosis in psychiatry as well as in medicine in general.

Method: We have made an overview of available literature on PTSD to identify what is our real knowledge about PTSD with all dilemmas, controversies and challenges.

Quality of life in families of Croatian veterans 15 years after the war.

Exposure to war trauma with its consequences such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disability due to combat injuries poses a significant problem for modern Croatian society. However, this is also a public health problem requiring continuous study of effective treatment strategies to achieve an increase in quality of life of most war-affected groups. Aim of this study was to examine the quality of life of population most affected by war - families of Croatian veterans.

Subjective assessment of quality of life of persons whose fathers had died in the homeland war.

The aim of this paper is to show the current subjective assessment of the quality of life of persons whose fathers had died in war, and compare it with regard to some of their socio-demographic characteristics. The study included 494 participants who had come for a physical and psychiatric examination to one of the health institutions in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek or Split in which examinations were arranged. The inclusion criterion was growing up in a single-parent family as a consequence of the father dying in war.

Self-assessment of well-being as an indicator of quality of life of former war prisoners - A Croatian study.

The impact of war on the population is vast, especially when it comes to those who were directly affected by war, among other things as concentration camp detainees. Because of the specific war experience of this population it is important to better understand the possible contribution of key socio-demographic variables, war traumatization and acute disturbances in mental health to their subjective assessment of their own well-being, which represents a psychological category and is based on a subjective assessment. The starting point is a theoretical precept according to which individual characteristics, together with war experience, can have repercussions on mental health, and eventually on the general well-being of an individual and their quality of life.

Correlation of sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression in Croatian war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between global sleep quality and its specific components and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptom severity questionnaire. We also researched whether sleep quality and sleep disturbances differed among groups of PTSD based on symptom severity categories. This study was conducted on the sample of 120 Croatian war veterans with PTSD.

1-H MRS changes in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex after donepezil treatment in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) noninvasively provides information on the concentration of some cerebral metabolites in vivo. Among those measurable by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) is decreased, and myo-inositol (ml) and choline (Cho) levels are increased in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Donepezil, an acetylcholinesteraze inhibitor, has proven effect on cognitive symptoms in patients with AD.

Age-developmental stage and severity of trauma related symptoms, anxiety and depressive symptoms in participants who lost their fathers during the war in Croatia.

Children of different ages will experience a traumatic event in a different ways. The most important in the generalization of research findings is recognizing that children of different ages think differently, act differently and have different emotional functioning. Experiences that are extremely traumatic to an adult may be perceived by a young child as something that is not so frightening.

Mental health consequences in men exposed to sexual abuse during the war in Croatia and Bosnia.

In the research project on sexual abuse of men during the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, detailed information from 60 victims of such crimes was gathered. The aim of the research was to define key attributes of sexual abuse of men in war as well as consequences it had on the victims. A method of structured interview was used.

Psychological consequences of rape on women in 1991-1995 war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Aim: To explore the short- and long-term psychological consequences of rape on women victims of rape during the 1992-1995 war against Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Methods: The study included 68 women victims of rape and was conducted at the Medical Center for Human Rights, Zagreb, Croatia, from 1992 to 1995. Testimony method and a questionnaire were used to retrospectively obtain the description of rapes and symptoms women suffered immediately after rape and at the time of the study, ie, 11.