Psychological characteristics of wounded and disabled Croatian war veterans

Objective: Evaluation of the psychological state of a group of 119 Croatian disabled war veterans who suffered grave traumatic war experiences during the war in Croatia (1991-1992). Methods: Semistructured Clinical interview, Profile Index Emotions test, and Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale were used to assess disabled war veterans accommodated in special institutions for rehabilitation. Results: Changes in psychological functioning were established in 63.8% of disabled war veterans, the most frequent among them being indisposition, irritability, anxiety, and fear. In nearly half of the veterans there were changes in their relationships with close persons, difficulties in accepting the reality of their situations, and increased aggressiveness. Higher average values on the depression index (0.52) were also established. Conclusion: The established change in the psychological profile of disabled Croatian war veterans was lower than expected. However, because of their great vulnerability, it is necessary to increase efforts to secure their complete psychosocial recovery.