Predictors of Chronic Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Group Psychotherapy Favorable Outcomes; A Prospective Cohort Study in Croatia.

Background: Combat-related chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a therapeutically resistant disorder of the fluctuating course. The success of a group psychotherapy is partial. The aim of this paper is to determine baseline characteristics of veterans for whom a group psychotherapy will be the effective psychotherapeutic treatment.

PTSD Symptoms and Coping with COVID-19 Pandemic among Treatment-Seeking Veterans: Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom levels and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic among treatment-seeking veterans with pre-existing PTSD.

Method: A cohort of 176 male treatment-seeking veterans with pre-existing PTSD during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (T1) and 132 participants from the same cohort one year after the onset of the pandemic (T2) participated in a longitudinal study. All participants responded to a COVID-19-related questionnaire and the following measures: the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) and the Brief COPE.

Changes in national rates of psychiatric beds and incarceration in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia from 1990-2019: A retrospective database analysis.

Background: Numbers of psychiatric beds (general, forensic, and residential) and prison populations have been considered to be indicators of institutionalisation of people with mental illnesses. The present study aimed to assess changes of those indicators across Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) over the last three decades to capture how care has developed during that historical period.

Methods: We retrospectively obtained data on numbers of psychiatric beds and prison populations from 30 countries in CEECA between 1990 and 2019.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and coping with the lockdown among help-seeking veterans before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim: To compare the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and of particular PTSD clusters among help-seeking veterans before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. The second aim was to identify the main coping strategies used.

Methods: Male war veterans (N=176) receiving outpatient treatment at the Referral Center for PTSD were assessed at baseline (12-18 months before the pandemic declaration in March 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (March-June 2020).

Mental health status and risk factors during Covid-19 pandemic in the Croatia's adult population.

: The Covid-19 pandemic is associated with adverse mental health outcomes for people worldwide.: The study aimed to assess mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic and the key risk factors from the human ecology perspective in Croatia's adult population.: An online panel survey with 1,201 adult participants (50.

Complex PTSD among treatment-seeking veterans with PTSD.

: In the ICD-11 hierarchical classification structure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) are separate and distinct but also 'sibling' disorders, meaning that the diagnoses follow from the parent category of traumatic stress disorders. : The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of CPTSD in treatment-seeking war veterans with PTSD more than 20 years after the exposure to cumulative war-related trauma(s). The second aim was to examine if there was an association between demographic and psychosocial variables and CPTSD or PTSD.

Effects of Psychosocial Day Care Programme on Quality of Life in Patients Affected with Schizophrenia - a Prospective Study.

Background: The basic aim of this prospective research was to establish the effect of psychosocial day care programme on the therapy outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.

Subjects And Methods: While 115 patients with schizophrenia were invited to participate, 100 of them completed the study and were subdivided into two groups. In addition to pharmacotherapy, the experimental group only (N=50) was integrated into a day-hospital-based psychosocial day care programme.

Relationship of early-life trauma, war-related trauma, personality traits, and PTSD symptom severity: a retrospective study on female civilian victims of war.

Background: Consequences of war-related traumatisation have mostly been investigated in military and predominant male populations, while research on female civilian victims of war has been neglected. Furthermore, research of post-war posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women has rarely included early-life trauma in their prediction models, so the contribution of trauma in childhood and early youth is still unexplored.

Objective: To examine the relationship of early-life trauma, war-related trauma, personality traits, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress among female civilian victims of the recent war in Croatia.

Drug utilization trends in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder in a postconflict setting: consistency with clinical practice guidelines.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare observed patterns of drug utilization among patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a postconflict setting with current guidelines and to present baseline period prevalence and change in period prevalence from 2 time periods, 2002 and 2012.

Method: The study provides details of the annual number of patients with PTSD with at least 1 redeemed prescription containing the diagnostic code F43.1 according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for fiscal years 2002 through 2012 in Croatia.

Outcome of treatment with antidepressants in patients with hypertension and undetected depression.

Objective: The objective of the research was to determine whether the administration of antidepressants, concurrently with antihypertensive therapy, leads to the better regulation of blood pressure in patients with hypertension and increased depressiveness.

Methods: Research was conducted in two outpatient family clinics in Rijeka, Croatia, on 452 patients with arterial hypertension who had not been diagnosed with depression prior to the study. The diagnosis of hypertension was made in accordance with the European Society of Hypertension and the European Society of Cardiology Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension.

Family factors associated with auto-aggressiveness in adolescents in Croatia.

The aim of this research is to look into the roles of families' social situation and cohesion in adolescent auto-aggressiveness in Croatia. The research was conducted on a sample of Zagreb high school students which encompassed 701 pupils of both genders aged 14-19. The basic demographic data were obtained using the Structured Demographic and Family Data Questionnaire.

Secondary traumatisation and systemic traumatic stress.

Traditionally, research has been focused on the development of symptoms in direct trauma survivors. However, during the last two decades researchers and clinicians have started exploring the way individual traumatic stress exposure affects trauma victims' spouses, children and professional caregivers. Studying trauma within the family is a part of what is called systemic traumatology, a study of groups, institutions and other human systems that show stress reactions directly caused by a traumatic event or series of events.

Recovery from posttraumatic stress symptoms: a qualitative study of attributions in survivors of war.

Objective: The study explored factors to which people traumatized by war attribute their recovery from posttraumatic symptoms and from war experiences.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with two groups of participants with mental sequelae of the war in the former Yugoslavia: 26 people who had recovered from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 17 people with ongoing symptoms of PTSD. Participants could attribute their recovery to any event, person or process in their life.

Subjective quality of life in war-affected populations.

Background: Exposure to traumatic war events may lead to a reduction in quality of life for many years. Research suggests that these impairments may be associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms; however, wars also have a profound impact on social conditions. Systematic studies utilising subjective quality of life (SQOL) measures are particularly rare and research in post-conflict settings is scarce.

The utilization and perceived usefulness of health care and other support services by people exposed to traumatic events related to the war in the Balkans.

Objective: To explore which health care and other support services people exposed to traumatic events related to the war use, how helpful they perceive them in the course of their post-war adaptation and whether utilization and perceived usefulness depend on the mental health status of participants.

Methods: A community sample of 3304 adults exposed to at least one war-related traumatic event was randomly selected in different regions in the former Yugoslavia. A specifically designed instrument, the Matrix for the Assessment of Community and Healthcare Services, was used to record service utilization and their perceived usefulness.

Co-occurrence of major depressive episode and posttraumatic stress disorder among survivors of war: how is it different from either condition alone?

Objective: Major depressive episode (MDE) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been shown to be the most common mental disorders following traumatic war experiences and have been found to frequently co-occur. This study, designed as a randomized cross-sectional interview survey, aimed to identify whether the co-occurence of MDE and PTSD following exposure to war-related experiences is associated with different demographics, exposure to previous traumatic events, and clinical characteristics than either condition alone.

Method: After a random-walk technique was used to randomly select participants, face-to-face interviews were conducted among war-affected community samples in 5 Balkan countries (N = 3,313) in the years 2006 and 2007.

Connection of depression and bone loss in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Depression has been implicated as a possible risk factor for low bone mineral density (BMD). However, there is still no solid evidence that could connect these two different illnesses. This research examined the association between self-reported depression and low BMD in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Psychiatric and health impact of primary and secondary traumatization in wives of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Along with primary traumatization, wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans often become victims of the altered and dysfunctional state of their partners, which adds to the severity of symptoms of primary traumatization and furthers the development of other mental disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of primary and secondary traumatization in wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans and wives of war veterans without PTSD.

Subjects And Methods: The experimental group consisted of 154 wives whose veteran husbands had been treated in Mostar Clinical Hospital for psychotrauma-induced PTSD.

Psychological symptoms as long-term consequences of war experiences.

Background/aims: War experiences can affect mental health, but large-scale studies on the long-term impact are rare. We aimed to assess long-term mental health consequences of war in both people who stayed in the conflict area and refugees.

Method: On average 8 years after the war in former Yugoslavia, participants were recruited by probabilistic sampling in 5 Balkan countries and by registers and networking in 3 Western European countries.

Changes in the provision of institutionalized mental health care in post-communist countries.

Background: General psychiatric and forensic psychiatric beds, supported housing and the prison population have been suggested as indicators of institutionalized mental health care. According to the Penrose hypothesis, decreasing psychiatric bed numbers may lead to increasing prison populations. The study aimed to assess indicators of institutionalized mental health care in post-communist countries during the two decades following the political change, and to explore whether the data are consistent with the Penrose hypothesis in that historical context.

Long-term improvement in coping skills following multimodal treatment in war veterans with chronic PTSD.

Due to the long-lasting and resistant symptoms characteristic of chronic combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), its treatment is complex and often requires a tailored therapeutic approach incorporating both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. A multimodal approach of psychoeducative, sociotherapeutic, and dynamically oriented trauma-focused groups is described. We assessed the short- and long-term effectiveness of this therapeutic program by monitoring its impact on PTSD symptoms, depression, neurotic symptoms, coping skills, and quality of life for three years.

Factors associated with mental disorders in long-settled war refugees: refugees from the former Yugoslavia in Germany, Italy and the UK.

Background: Prevalence rates of mental disorders are frequently increased in long-settled war refugees. However, substantial variation in prevalence rates across studies and countries remain unexplained.

Aims: To test whether the same sociodemographic characteristics, war experiences and post-migration stressors are associated with mental disorders in similar refugee groups resettled in different countries.