Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in South African exiles
Author(s):
Mpumlwana, Vuyo Boniswa N.
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of Manitoba (Canada), 1991.
Pages:
145
Language:
English
Abstract:
The present study investigated the relationship between various traumatic experiences and the psychological adjustment of 205 South African refugees who were residents of Mazimbu and Dakawa, African National Congress sponsored camps in Tanzania. The mediating effects of various variables (e.g., personality, social support, and recent life events) in this trauma-adjustment relationship were examined. Thirty-three percent of the exiles had experienced physical or psychological torture (almost all of them both) while in political detention in South African prisons. Additional traumatic events had been experienced during South African military raids in front line states (19%). Police crackdowns on political demonstrations had lead to 9% being injured personally, 22% having close friends or relatives injured or killed, and 31% having witnessed others getting killed or injured. In all, two-thirds of the exiles had experienced one or more of the above experiences. The General Severity Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist-90 (Revised) indicated overall levels of psychological symptomatology in these exiles closer (although significantly less) to those of psychiatric outpatients while significantly exceeding those of Hmong refugees in the U.S. and African university students in Canada. While torture experiences related to increased reports of symptoms in the six months after detention, they were not associated with increased current GSIs or scores on the CR-PTSD scale, a scale to measure post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms derived from the SCL-90-R. More physical torture experiences predicted who amongst those tortured would select torture as their most traumatic experience; within that group, however, more psychological torture methods predicted heightened intrusive thoughts and associated avoidance. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) Neuroticism was significantly and substantially related with current GSI and CR-PTSD scores. Other EPQ-R scales showed more modest associations with these measures. This study provided little evidence, surprisingly, for a relationship between the sorts of traumatic experiences assessed in these exiles and their current adjustment. Of the variables assessed in the current study, personality attributes, particularly Neuroticism, were most significantly related to psychological wellbeing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)