Issue 3/4 Vol. 34 1992

Some social-demographic, psychopathologic and clinic characteristics of psychiatrically treated soldiers of the Croatian Army

HOTUJAC, Lj., VUKELJA, D., MAHNIK, M.

Knowing that in a modern war surgical and psychiatric treatment are almost equally important, the Clinic for Psychiatry of Zagreb Medical School put itself at the service of Croatian Army soldiers at the beginning of the war in Croatia. Based on psychiatric examinations and the treatment of 215 soldiers, a research into the social-demographic and clinical characteristics of the soldiers was made. More than 69% of examinees were between 20 and 34 years of age. The numbers of married and single subjects were approximately the same. Most of them were secondary school graduates and students. In the majority of cases, the psychic breakdown appeared within the first fifty days on the battlefield, 18% of examinees experienced a breakdown before coming to the front. The highest number of arrivals was recorded in December 1991. The most frequent symptoms were fear (57.7%), insomnia (47.9%), depression (16.3%) and living through traumatic war events (11.2%). The usual diagnoses were anxiety disorder (45.5%), anxious-depressive disorder (15.2%), post-traumatic stress disorder (8.6%), exhaustion of adapting abilities (8.6%) and depression (5.1%). During treatment we prescribed anxiolitics in 59.3% cases, antidepressive drugs in 37.2% and antipsychotics in 3.5% cases. Of all examined and treated soldiers, about 11% were temporarily disabled for military service.

Keywords: psychiatry in war, war, traumatic experiences, soldiers

Short Title: Hotujac, Lj. et al. (1992) PsyBeit 3-4:224

[Pabst Science Publishers] [Psychologische Beiträge] [Table of Contents] [Search] [Order]