The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence of PTSD in refugees from Croatia and investigate the relationship between PTSD and the number of experienced traumas, especially with regard to being held in detention camp, as well as the relationship between PTSD and demographic variables. A group of refugees, consisting of 34 men and 54 women, mean age 43, were studied. Trauma Questionnaire and Watson's PTSD Interview were applied. The group experienced three traumas, on average; whereas after two years of life in captivity the prevalence of PTSD was 45.45%. It was established that the total of PTSD symptoms grow with the increasing number of traumas and with the refugee's age, but decrease with the person's higher education. The group of refugees (N=18) who were kept in detention camp no longer than one month and were not tortured, was compared with the comparative refugee group (N=18), equal in gender, age, education and number of traumas experienced. The groups had shown statistically the same amount of total PTSD symptomatics. Conclusively, the results indicate that young adulthood and higher education are protective factors in reaction to trauma. A short period of time spent in detention camp, without torture, did not have a separate effect on PTSD symptomatics in the group of polytraumatized adult refugees.

[No Keywords available]

[No Keywords available]