Issue 3/4 Vol. 34 1992

Psychic disorders in war casualties

COP, J., IVANOVIC, J., MATEK, P.

The most frequent problems of war casualties were various reactive conditions and decompensated neuroses accompanied primarily by anxiety, fear and depression. A small number of wounded, particulary those who did not stay in their combat units long, suffered from intense anxiety and insomnia. These disorders spontaneously subsided with time. Our day-to-day treatment proved a multidisciplinary approach to be indispensable. We tried to establish a firm, correct therapeutical psychotherapy. During all stages of treatment we prescribed psychotropic drugs according to the intensity and duration of the psychic disorders. The mental status of all our wounded patients improved. However, due to the possibility of subsequent relapse of both minor and severe psychic disorders, we recommended periodical check-ups, referring our patients to relevant institutions and departments.

On the basis of questionnaire data presented in the tables, we came to the following conclusions:

1. Marital status did not affect the incidence of wounding. The wounds inflicted in combat, and particularly the self-inflicted wounds were convincingly more frequent in childless patients.

2. The category of education did not affect the incidence of wounding or self-infliction of wounds.

3. The incidence of wounding and self-infliction of wounds decreased with the time spent in combat units.

Keywords: psychiatry in war, war

Short Title: Cop, J. et al. (1992) PsyBeit 3-4:234

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