Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.24869/psyd.2022.253

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AMONG SYRIAN REFUGEES SETTLED IN A CAMP IN TURKEY

Eser Sağaltıcı ; Department of Psychiatry, Bagcilar Research and Training Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
Şengül Kocamer Şahin orcid.org/0000-0002-5371-3907 ; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey
Gökay Alpak ; Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, USA
Abdurrahman Altındağ ; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey

Abstract

Background: This study firstly described gender differences in traumatic experiences and the symptomatology and posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), among Syrian refugees settled in a camp in Turkey. Secondly, we aimed to discuss the reasons for gender
differences, by comparing with the studies conducted on these Syrian refugees of the same culture who are the victims of the same
war in their new settlement where they had been forced to migrate.
Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 352 refugees, randomly selected from a single settlement.
The diagnosis of PTSD was performed using face-to-face psychiatric interviews according to the DSM-IV-TR criteria. The Stressful
Life Events Screening Questionnaire and a sociodemographic history form were administered to all participants. We compared our
results with other PTSD studies on Syrian Refugees.
Results: Men were exposed to traumatic events 1.29 times more frequently than women. However, the prevalence of PTSD was
significantly higher in women (44.1%) than in men (18.1%), with a prevalence of 30.7% in the overall sample. While symptoms of
intrusion and avoidance/numbing were more prevalent in women with PTSD, there was no difference in symptoms of hypervigilance
between genders. However, women reported a higher prevalence of fear response to traumatic events.
Conclusions: Female refugees may be more prone than men to develop PTSD, although both genders shared the same traumatic
environment in the early post-traumatic periods. The higher frequency of intrusion and avoidance/numbing may originate from an
increased tendency of anxiety structural dissociation among women, alongside possibly higher peritraumatic dissociation, which
may be also boosted by the higher ongoing perception of threat among female refugees. The possible role of peritraumatic and
ongoing dissociation in PTSD should be taken into consideration for further research, particularly among populations under
ongoing threat.

Keywords

posttraumatic stress; gender differences; Syrian refugees; war; tent city

Hrčak ID:

280023

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/280023

Publication date:

5.7.2022.

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