Stress en trauma na een militaire uitzending in Irak

ABSTRACT Some questionnaire studies have shown increased mental health problems including probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in us soldiers but not in UK soldiers deployed to Iraq. This study tested whether psychological symptoms increase from before to after deployment, and whether questionnaires provide reliable estimates of deployment-related PTSD completed to a clinical interview Dutch infantry troops completed questionnaires before deployment to Iraq (n = 479), and about five months (80%) and 15 months (69) afterwards. Overall, there were no changes in no changes in symptoms after deployment. The PTSD-estimates at five months were 9 to 12% based on the questionnaire. The deployments related PTSD-rate based on the interview was 3-5%. There was a specific mental health effect of deployment for a small minority. Questionnaires gave substantial overestimations of the rate of PTSD.