A mixed group of 593 displaced persons were observed for 12 weeks following departure from their homes in rural East Croatia and accommodation in social centres in Osijek. The stressful circumstances of being forced to leave their homes resulted in psychosocial, physiological and psychobehavioural disorders. Only 6. 5 per cent of men and 2.4 per cent of women behaved rationally. The psychosocial disorders occurring immediately after leaving their homes can be ranked as: fear (24.7 per cent), anger and fury (23 per cent), distrust (16.1 per cent), anxiety (12.9 per cent), and despair (7.5 per cent) among men; and among women, fear (34.5 per cent), anxiety (14.8 per cent), panic (15.9 percent), despair (14.8 per cent), distrust 16.1 per cent), fury (8.8 per cent). Concern about the future, own life, parents, property and siblings occurred more often among women. After a 12 week treatment period, 30 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women reported the following disorders: insomnia, loss of appetite, functional disturbances, increased irritability and depressive moods. There is an increasing tendency of their occurrence among the married, women, the young, and those of lower educational background. © 1994 Oxford University Press.

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