Effect of religious belief on posttraumatic stress disorder

PTSP je karakteriziran simptomima distresa koji uključuju ponovno proživljavanje stresnog događaja, izbjegavanje stimulusa povezanih s traumom, emotivnu otupljenost i hiperpobuđenost. Postaje sve češći u skupini hrvatskih branitelja, ali i kod žrtava nasilja u vezama, kod preživjelih nakon nesreća ili prirodnih katastrofa. Iako su simptomi PTSP-a opisani još odavno, pod nazivom traumatska neuroza, prvi put je prepoznat kao zasebna dijagnoza u DSM-III klasifikaciji, dok se danas simptomi određuju na temelju DSM-5. Mnoga istraživanja su provedena u svrhu pronalaska povezanosti težine PTSP simptoma te vanjskih i unutarnjih faktora, pogotovo nakon što je uočeno da neke osobe nakon traume pokazuju posttraumatski rast, dok se kod drugih razviju teži oblici depresije i suicidalnosti. Jedan od tih faktora je religioznost te je dokazano da ima jako bitnu ulogu u određivanju načina na koji će neka osoba reagirati na traumu pa posljedično, utječe i na razvoj PTSP-a. Nakon izloženosti traumatskom događaju, osoba gubi osjećaj vlastite vrijednosti i prestaje vjerovati u dobronamjernost svijeta. Religioznost može pomoći u nošenju s PTSP simptomima kod pojedinaca koji su i prethodno bili religiozni te se oni upuštaju u različite aktivnosti kao što su osobna molitva ili organizirane religiozne aktivnosti te imaju i manji stupanj izraženosti suicidalnosti i depresije. Daljnja istraživanja na ovu temu su potrebna, budući da religioznost može biti korisno sredstvo u liječenju pacijenata s PTSP-om.Posttraumatic stress disorder is characterized by symptoms of distress, that include re- experience of a traumatic event, avoidance, emotional numbness and hyperalertness. PTSD is becoming more and more frequent among Croatian war veterens, but also in domestic violence victims, in those who have survived an accident or a severe disease, and therefore, deserves the attention of the psychiatric community. PTSD was first recognized as a special diagnosis in the DSM-III classification, and today, DSM-V classification is used to determine the symptoms needed to diagnose PTSD. The clinical presentation of PTSD has been described before, but under the term traumatic neurosis. Many research were conducted in order to find certain associations between the severity of PTSD symptoms and outer and inner factors, especially after it was noticed that some individuals show posttraumatic growth, while others develop severe signs of depression and suicidality. One of these factors is religiousness, and it has been shown that it might have an important role in determining the way a person reacts to trauma, and consequently, in the possible development of PTSD. After being exposed to a traumatic event, a person loses the feeling of self-efficiacy and stops believing in the benevolence of the world. Religiousness can help people to cope with the trauma. After being exposed to such an event, they might tend to engage more in religious activities, eiher organizational, such as attending a mass, or non-organizational, such as praying. Higher religiosity was associated with less severe symptoms of PTSD, especially suicidal thoughts. Further research on this topic is necessary in order to elucidate whether religiosity might offer relief in patients with PTSD who accept this kind of treatment