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. The control group was formed of 77 wives of war veterans who do not suffer from PTSD. The research used a general demographic questionnaire, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) and the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview. RESULTS: Wives of veterans with chronic PTSD experienced a significantly greater number of traumatic events (t=2.66; p=0.008) and had higher scores of PTSD symptoms (t=8.93; p<0.001). A significantly larger number of these women reported chronic somatic diseases (χ²=4.553; p=0.033). Furthermore, wives of PTSD-affected veterans significantly more frequently met criteria for current depression episode (χ²=20.65; p<0.001), past depression episode (χ²=24.40; p<0.001), depression with melancholic features (χ²=19.20; p<0.001), dysthymia (χ²=7.15; p=0.007), panic disorder with agoraphobia (χ²=5.28; p=0.022), PTSD (χ²=18.39; ss=1; p<0.001) and generalized anxiety disorder (χ²=19.58; p<0.001). This group also showed a higher level of suicidality (χ²=8.95; p=0.003). CONCLUSION: The findings of this research show how mental difficulties experienced by wives of PTSD-diagnosed war veterans affect the interrelationship of their primary and secondary traumatization.