WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Dr. Mohammad Esmael Khaleel and Dr. Lubnah Shakir Mahmood

ABSTRACT

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder, persisting for at least one month insurvivors of a traumatic event, Unlike most other mental disorders, the diagnostic criteria for PTSD specify anetiological factor namely the traumatic event. Aim of study: To estimate the prevalence of PTSD, toestimate the rate of exposure to traumatic events . Patients and Methods: This cross sectional survey wasmultistage cluster sample. conducted from 1st of October 2017 to the 1st of April 2018, The study populationincluded all residents within the municipal border of Mosul city , To assess post traumatic stress disorders, theIraqi version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was used. Results : A total of 140 Households weresurveyed from these 140 individuals aged 18 years or older were interviewed, data of 129 respondents used foranalysis, The sample had more women than men during the survey (53, 76) respectively, Most people in bothgroups were in the younger age group (18-35) years and married, a total of 116 participants (89.92%) experienced0-4 trauma events,8 Participants (6.20%)experienced 5-10 Trauma events and (3.87%) experienced 5-10 traumaevents, 79(61.24%) reported witnessed the arrest, torture, or execution of religious leaders or important membersof tribe.61(47.28%) of respondents reported that they witnessed mass execution of civilians, 47(36.43%)witnessed rotting corpses. 27 (20.93%) of the respondents reported witnessing murder. 17(13.17%) Confined tohome because of chaos and violence outside, 15(11.62%) of respondents indicated that they Exposed to combatsituation (explosions, artillery fire, shelling) or landmine. during the 2nd & 3rd Gulf wars (with Coalition Forces),The prevalence of PTSD was significantly high among population studied, where 28 (21.70%) individual of thetotal population (129) scored 2.25 or more on Harvard Trauma questionnaire which mean they are suffering ofPTSD, with P value less than 0.001 and it is higher among respondents living to the right side of Tigris river thanthose living to the left side (24.61%, 18.75% respectively), although of that the difference was statistically notsignificant with a P value = 0.419 , D.F =1 Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) was higher among femalesthan males (11.32%, 28.94% ) respectively, the difference was statistically significantly with a P value <0.05Mental health coping mechanisms varied among respondents, family support were the most important copingmechanism, which was used by respondents to overcome their stresses, where 32.14% of respondents reported touse this coping mechanism, the 2nd most important coping mechanism was visiting religious healer (21.42%).Conclusion : Among those enrolled in this survey many have experienced traumatic events due to the longhistory of armed conflict, repression and insufficiency of essential material and basic needs, PTSD symptoms arehighly prevalent, especially in those who experienced multiple traumas and in women and it is over the capacityof primary health care workers for support or treatment. The mental health in Iraq, therefore need support.

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