Riyadh K Lafta, Zaidoon S Aziz and AbdulKareem AlObaidi
Background: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among adolescents is increasing worldwide especially in violent conflicts and war zones. Iraq is consistently exposed to large-scale traumatic events such as successive wars, economic sanction, sustainable organized violence, and terrorism. This unsafe situation negatively impacts on the psychosocial status of the whole Iraqi community, especially children and adolescents.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of PTSD in a sample of adolescents in Baghdad, and to figure out the probable association between some socio-demographic characteristics and PTSD symptoms.
Methods: A sample of 1858 male students, aged 13 to 19 years, was selected from 18 secondary schools for boys in Baghdad. The Arabic version of the International Neuropsychiatric Interview PTSD module ‘I’ (M.I.N.I) was adopted to assess the presence of PTSD symptoms.
Results: Trauma experiences were reported by more than 55% of the sample surveyed and 17.1% reported symptoms of PTSD. Higher rates of PTSD occurred among adolescents aged l7-19 years (24.7%) and among those whose fathers were deceased and those who living with non-biological caregivers.
Conclusion: The unsafe situation in Iraq has led to high trauma exposure and a high prevalence rate of PTSD among Male Adolescents in Baghdad. The study explored a number of factors that are associated with this increased rate. The data generated from this study may be of use to policy makers, people work in mental health care as well as practitioners in the field.