Preliminary evidence linking complex-PTSD to insomnia in a sample of Yazidi genocide survivors.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a psychiatric diagnosis that includes three additional symptom clusters beyond those necessary for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis. CPTSD is typically associated with a prolonged trauma exposure in which a person's destiny is under the control of other people and escape is not an option. Insomnia prevalence in women suffering from CPTSD was compared to the prevalence of insomnia in those with no-PTSD and those with only PTSD. Yazidi women (N = 108, age = 24.41 ±â€¯5.71) former captives of the Islamic State terrorist group were queried about captivity variables, psychological distress, resilience, PTSD, CPTSD, and insomnia. CPTSD prevalence was high (>50%) and was highly correlated with insomnia (95% of those with CPTSD had insomnia). A dichotomous insomnia variable was regressed on age and marital-status (Step 1), captivity-duration and number of fellow captives (Step 2), resilience and psychological distress (Step 3), and group (no-PTSD/PTSD/CPTSD) (Step 4). Insomnia was 18 times more likely in the CPTSD group than in the no-PTSD group. There were no differences in insomnia prevalence between the no-PTSD and PTSD groups. Insomnia levels among Yazidi women released from captivity support an understanding of CPTSD as a separate entity than PTSD. Potential factors linking CPTSD to insomnia, beyond those associated with PTSD are discussed.

Islam and "female circumcision": the dispute over FGM in the Egyptian press, September 1994.

In September 1994, during the United Nations Population Conference in Cairo, CNN broadcast a report about the custom of clitoridectomy in Egypt. The televised report included footage of such a ceremony performed on a ten-year-old Egyptian girl in Cairo a few days earlier. This broadcast revived the public polemics on clitoridectomy in Egypt. Secular newspapers such as al-Wafd and al-Ahali opposed this practice while religious circles used the al-Sha'b newspaper to justify it. The religious argument is based on Islamic tradition although the origin of the practice is admittedly pre-Islamic. This position maintains that the type of clitoridectomy performed involves minimal excision, but in practice it is much more radical. There are voices from within the lslamic camp, mainly those of women, that call for the abolition of this practice, basing this demand on the fact that this act is a minor rather than major principle of Islamic Law. Although the secular educated classes in Egypt tend to avoid this practice, they are a minority. The public argument continues in a low key while in reality thousands of young girls daily undergo this traumatic experience which maims them in body and in soul. Unless there is a sustained public outcry against it, this mutilation is destined to remain part of the Egyptian reality for a long time. This paper discusses the positions of the two sides to the dispute, concentrating mainly on the opinions of the Islamic faction which upholds the continuation of genital mutilation. These opinions are expressed by male Islamic elders while opposing arguments are presented by women who decry this practice.