Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders among Sample of Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Background: The displacement due to wars and disasters is public problems as the people with displacement exposed to different kinds of traumas, violence, injuries, making them more vulnerable for large scale of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation with attempts and among of these disorders is Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Iraqi have long bad experiences of wars, sanction and community violence that produced large scale of physical and mental disorders. Objective: Measuring the effect of displacement on mental health of internally displaced people (IDP) by estimating the prevalence of PTSD. Methods: Cross-sectional study was done during the January 2016 at major camp for internal displaced people in west of Baghdad-Abu-Graib camp. A convenient sample was obtained and each participant filled a questionnaire that consisted of socio-demographic, in addition to questions of Iraqi version of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) for assessing the PTSD. Results: 20.8% of the participants had symptoms of PTSD. There was statistically insignificant between gender, marital status education and income with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Conclusion: High prevalence of PTSD symptoms among internally displaced people (IDP).