An Attachment Perspective on Traumatic and Posttraumatic Reactions

Posttraumatic reactions are common among mothers of preterm infants and can have a negative influence on their quality of life and lead to interactional difficulties with their baby. Given the possible trajectories of posttraumatic reactions, we hypothesized that prevalences of postpartum posttraumatic reactions at given times underestimate the real amount of mothers experiencing these symptoms within 18 months following delivery. Additionally, we examined whether sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of dyads influence the expression of posttraumatic symptoms among these mothers. A sample of 100 dyads was included in this longitudinal study led by 3 french university hospitals. Preterm infants born before 32 weeks of gestation and their mothers were followed-up over 18 months and attended 5 visits assessing the infants’ health conditions and the mothers’ psychological state with validated scales. Fifty dyads were retained through the 18 months of the study. The period prevalence of posttraumatic reactions was calculated and a group comparison was conducted to determine their predictive factors. Thirty-six percent of the mothers currently suffered from posttraumatic symptoms 18 months after their preterm delivery. The 18 months period prevalence was 60.4% among all the mothers who participated until the end of the follow-up. There was a statistical link between posttraumatic symptoms and a shorter gestational age at delivery, C-section, and the mother’s psychological state of mind at every assessment time. Only a small proportion of mothers were receiving psychological support at 18 months. Preterm mothers are a population at risk of developing a long-lasting postpartum posttraumatic disorder, therefore immediate and delayed systematic screenings for posttraumatic symptoms are strongly recommended to guide at-risk mothers towards appropriate psychological support.

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IŠGYVENUSIŲJŲ POLITINES REPRESIJAS POTRAUMINĖS SIMPTOMATIKOS IR TRAUMINĖS PATIRTIES, DEMOGRAFINIŲ, SOMATINIŲ VEIKSNIŲ BEI VIDINĖS DARNOS SĄSAJOS

Psichologija ◽

10.15388/psichol.2005..4328 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 ◽

pp. 46-59

Author(s):

Evaldas Kazlauskas ◽

Danutė Gailienė

Keyword(s):

Health Effects ◽

Political Violence ◽

Sense Of Coherence ◽

Demographic Factors ◽

National Registry ◽

Political Prisoners ◽

Traumatic Experiences ◽

Research Centre ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Posttraumatic Reactions

Tyrime dalyvavo 724 buvę politiniai kaliniai, nukentėję nuo komunistinių represijų. Potrauminė simptomatika buvo matuojama Traumos simptomų klausimynu (TSK-35). Tyrimo duomenų analizė atlikta naudojant hierarchinę daugialypę regresiją. Potrauminę simptomatiką geriausiai prognozavo: traumų, patirtų per visą gyvenimą, kiekis, vidinė darna, sutuoktinio mirtis, lytis, sveikatos pablogėjimas po represijų ir dabartinės sveikatos siejimas su represijų patirtimi. Galutinė regresijos lygtis paaiškino 43,7 proc. traumos simptomų klausimyno rezultatų variacijos. Tyrimo rezultatai patvirtino traumų psichologijos teorinį teiginį, kad traumos intensyvumas geriausiai paaiškina jos psichologinius padarinius, tačiau tyrimas taip pat parodė, kad prognozuojant potrauminę simptomatiką būtina atsižvelgti į daugiau veiksnių.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: trauma, politinės represijos, potrauminis stresas, rizikos veiksniai, ilgalaikiai padariniai. LINKS BETWEEN POSTTRAUMATIC REACTIONS, HEALTH EFFECTS, TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES AND SENSE OF COHERENCE AMONG LITHUANIAN SURVIVORS OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONEvaldas Kazlauskas, Danutė Gailienė SummaryBackground: During Nazi and Soviet occupations in the years 1940–1958 one third of Lithuanian population were killed or deported to Siberia. Almost 300,000 people were deported to highly remote regions of Siberia. Former political prisoners and deportees experienced prolonged torture and persecutions, even after release from prison. Little is known in traumatic stress literature about effects of such extreme and prolonged traumatisation. The aim of the present study was to find out predictors of posttraumatic reactions in the group of survivors of political imprisonment. Methods: Former political prisoners (n = 724) were randomly selected from the national registry of Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania. All former political prisoners are officially acknowledged as victims of Soviet repression by Lithuanian laws and are fully rehabilitated. The mean age of political prisoners was 75.8 (SD = 5,8) years. Questionnaires covering questions about lifetime traumatic experiences, exposure to political violence, posttraumatic symptoms as well as possible mediating factors between trauma and consequences have been mailed to participants of the study. Posttraumatic reactions were assessed using Lithuanian version of Traumatic Symptom Checklist (TSC-35). Results: Posttraumatic reactions correlated with demographic factors (gender, level of education), health effects, traumatic experiences and sense of coherence. Variables using hierarchical stepwise model were entered into multiple regression analysis. Demographic factors explained 8.1 % of posttraumatic reactions variance. Both health effects and demographic variables explained 19.6 % of variance. Traumatic experiences increased prediction of posttraumatic reactions to 31.6 %. Final equation, with sense of coherence entered on the fourth step, explained 43.7 % of posttraumatic symptom variance. Significant predictors of posttraumatic reactions among former Lithuanian political prisoners were: accumulative lifetime traumatic experiences, sense of coherence, gender (women showing higher levels of victimization), death of spouse, somatic complains immediately after imprisonment or forced deportation, and attribution of current poor health status to experienced political violence.Keywords: trauma, political repression, posttraumatic stress, risk factors, long-term effects.

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