Aim: The aim of this study was to determine specific differences in trauma related symptoms between the civilians who survived the trauma of war and veterans of war who have had the experience of combat stress.
Methods: The study involved two groups of subjects, with 50 male subjects in the age range between 20 and 50 in each group who had no psychiatric history prior to traumatization. All subjects were assessed for psychopathological symptoms using the multidimensional instrument for symptom assessment SCL 90-R (L.R. Derogatis 1986.). This instrument contains 90 articles divided in 9 subscales. PTSP symptoms were assessed with Mississippi Questionnaire designed by Keane et al 1988, and containing 35 articles. Sociodemographic characteristics were registered by the use of a special questionnaire designed by the authors.
Conclusions: Our results indicate a statistically significant difference in the presence of symptoms between the two groups. Both PTSP and other related symptoms were present in statistically significant higher degree in the group of war veterans than in the group of civilian survivor of war traumas. There is also a statistically significant difference in socio-economic status in the period after the war between the two groups. This difference is at a disadvantage of the group of war veterans who are fairing significantly worse. This is probably due to the consequences of traumatization as well to secondary traumatization, absence of expected reward for their effort and impairment in social functioning in the group of war veterans.