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Mental health of Dutch peacekeeping veterans 10-25 years after deployment.| Autores: | Ellen R Klaassens, Tineke van Veen, Jos M P Weerts, Frans G Zitman | | Língua: | Eng. | | Data: | 2008-10-20 | | Jornal: | European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists
(0924-9338)
| | Release: | Eur Psychiatry. 2008 Oct;23(7):486-90 | |
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Abstract:
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OBJECTIVE:
This report describes the mental health of Dutch peacekeeping veterans, 10--25 years after deployment, and its association with deployment-related traumatic events.
METHOD:
We randomly selected a group of 1046 peacekeeping veterans, who participated in military missions in Lebanon, former Yugoslavia, and various other missions between 1979 and 1997. We sent a questionnaire assessing current levels of psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory--BSI), and a questionnaire assessing trauma related to deployment.
RESULTS:
Psychological data were available for 729 veterans. In 83% of the veterans, no significant psychological distress was found, whereas 17% scored above the BSI cut-off for psychopathology. Interestingly, this percentage was equal to that in a non-patient norm group.
CONCLUSION:
From this finding we concluded that 10--25 years post-deployment, Dutch peacekeeping veterans do not show more psychological distress than the general Dutch population. In addition, we did not find a significant association between trauma exposure 10--25 years ago and current BSI scores. Moreover, trauma-exposure explained only 9% of the variance in psychological distress. Thus, although military peacekeeping operations may have a strong impact on the lives of soldiers, in this group of veterans they do not seem to have caused severe psychological distress10--25 years after deployment.
| | Copyright: | European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands. e.r.klaassens lumc.nl | | Full text: |  DOI - European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists (DOI) EBSCO - HTML (necessita a subscrição) | | Assuntos | Adult, Aged, Depression, Humans, Lebanon, Male, Mental Disorders, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Questionnaires, Time Factors | | | |
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Artigos de outros especialidades: Neurocirurgia, Pediatria, Medicina Interna, Cirurgia Plástica, Alergia, Ortopedia e traumatologia, Cardiologia, Nefrologia, Farmacologia Clinica, Odontologia, Neurologia, Patologia |
