Symptoms of Distress and Posttraumatic Stress among South African Former Political Detainees

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12554648
AutoresAshraf Kagee (0000-0003-1241-2566, Stellenbosch University, autor correspondente)
Ano2005
Volume10
Fascículo2
Páginas169-179
Data de publicação2005-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEthnicity and Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1355-7858 • E-ISSN: 1465-3419
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13557850500071244
PMID15804662
OpenAlexW2016163621
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas17

Considerable debate has centred on the question of traumatisation among individuals who have survived human rights violations in societies that have undergone political conflict. In order to gain an estimate of the extent of long-term traumatisation among political activists who experienced torture and abuse in detention during the apartheid era in South Africa, a sample of 148 survivors of such experiences were recruited in a cross-sectional study and asked to complete the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL), the Impact of Event Scale (IES), and the Trauma Symptoms section of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). The proportions of the sample that scored above the clinical cut-points on these measures were calculated. On the HSCL, 14.19% of the sample scored above the cut-point for clinical significance of 44; on the IES, 17.57% scored above the clinical cut-point of 44; and on the HTQ, 37.83% scored above the cut-point of 75. Moreover, the sample's mean scores were significantly higher than the cut-point for clinically significant distress on the HSCL (p < 0.001); significantly lower than the cut-point for severe traumatisation on the IES (p < 0.001); and non-significantly lower than the cut-point for clinically significant traumatisation on the HTQ (p = 0.074). These results are considered in terms of current theoretical debates on the relevance and applicability of posttraumatic stress disorder as a circumscribed nosological entity in developing countries that are in the process of coming to terms with a history of political conflict

Cut-point · Distress · Political science · Politics · Posttraumatic stress · Psychiatry · Clinical Psychology · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Psychology