Combat exposure, non-combat related stressors and post-traumatic stress disorder in Portuguese military commandos returnees from Afghanistan

Abstract

Several combat situations and non-combat related stressors have been reported in the current combat conflict in Afghanistan. Accumulating evidence suggests that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the most common sequela resulting from combat. Until now, no study had addressed mental health problems among Portuguese military members who had participated in combat conflict in Afghanistan. The present research aims to evaluate the prevalence of combat exposure and non-combat related stressors, as well as the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in Portuguese military members deployed in Afghanistan. A total of 113 military veterans, all male, aged between 21 and 36 years (mean age = 26.77; SD = 3.3) were evaluated. Overall, participants revealed several combat experiences such as being responsible for wounding (15.0%) or killing enemies (9.7%), carrying wounded military (31.0%) or being themselves injured/wounded (8.8%). Participants also experienced several adverse physical conditions such as lack of water/food (37.2%), several days without sleep (49.6%) or unbearable weather (60.6%). Regarding unit-related problems, the majority of participants have accounted elevated satisfaction concerning situations such as pride to belong to the unit (95.6%), and unity between comrades (87.6%). As for PTSD, results revealed that 2.7% endorsed symptoms compatible with PTSD diagnosis and 8.8% with compatible partial PTSD. Regression analysis revealed that combat experiences marginally explain PTSD symptoms, but adverse physical conditions also made a small contribution in prediction PTSD symptoms. The present findings suggest it is essential to create special programs that evaluate and monitor all Portuguese military members returning from deployment in Afghanistan, as well as to provide them with psychological and psychiatric care if needed.