Pain, somatic complaints, and subjective concepts of illness in traumatized female refugees who experienced extreme violence by the "Islamic State" (IS).


Journal

Journal of psychosomatic research
ISSN: 1879-1360
Titre abrégé: J Psychosom Res
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0376333

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
03 2020
Historique:
received: 01 02 2019
revised: 21 08 2019
accepted: 11 01 2020
pubmed: 26 1 2020
medline: 29 9 2020
entrez: 26 1 2020
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Refugees with a history of war or sexual violence often experience somatic symptoms along with mental disorders. After being held in captivity by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), 1100 especially vulnerable Yazidi women and children (around 400 women) received special medical and psychological support. We report on their (psycho-) somatic complaints and concepts of illness. Female refugees (N = 116) were surveyed regarding their somatic complaints and concepts of illness. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and self-developed questionnaire items with ratings on a five-point Likert scale from 0 ("not at all") to 4 ("extremely") were used. Subgroup analyses and a multiple linear regression model were computed. Pain (M = 2.43, SD = 1.70) is the main somatic complaint with a moderate rated severity, followed by feelings of suffocation (M = 2.37, SD = 1.53), and movement disorders (M = 1.62, SD = 1.70). In a linear regression model, pain explains variance (R Female Yazidi refugees being kept in IS captivity mainly suffer from pain, which is attributed to an explanatory psychological model. The study results show the specific psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic needs and demands for specifically tailored psychotherapy.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND
Refugees with a history of war or sexual violence often experience somatic symptoms along with mental disorders. After being held in captivity by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), 1100 especially vulnerable Yazidi women and children (around 400 women) received special medical and psychological support. We report on their (psycho-) somatic complaints and concepts of illness.
METHODS
Female refugees (N = 116) were surveyed regarding their somatic complaints and concepts of illness. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and self-developed questionnaire items with ratings on a five-point Likert scale from 0 ("not at all") to 4 ("extremely") were used. Subgroup analyses and a multiple linear regression model were computed.
RESULTS
Pain (M = 2.43, SD = 1.70) is the main somatic complaint with a moderate rated severity, followed by feelings of suffocation (M = 2.37, SD = 1.53), and movement disorders (M = 1.62, SD = 1.70). In a linear regression model, pain explains variance (R
CONCLUSION
Female Yazidi refugees being kept in IS captivity mainly suffer from pain, which is attributed to an explanatory psychological model. The study results show the specific psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic needs and demands for specifically tailored psychotherapy.

Identifiants

pubmed: 31981895
pii: S0022-3999(19)30102-3
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.109931
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

109931

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be seen as a potential conflict of interest. The study was conducted in cooperation with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Boston, United States.

Auteurs

Caroline Rometsch (C)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: caroline.rometsch@med.uni-tuebingen.de.

Jana Katharina Denkinger (JK)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Martha Engelhardt (M)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Petra Windthorst (P)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Johanna Graf (J)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Niamh Gibbons (N)

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Phuong Pham (P)

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.

Stephan Zipfel (S)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Florian Junne (F)

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

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