Earthquake trauma and causal explanation associating with PTSD and other psychiatric disorders among South East Anatolian women.

INTRODUCTION: The research questions were, first, how exposure to earthquake related traumatic events is associated with PTSD and other psychiatric symptoms among women after one year of the disaster. Second, how the nature of trauma does associate with psychiatric symptoms, and, third, does the causal explanations for the trauma moderate the association between traumatic events and psychiatric symptoms.

METHOD: Participants were 1253 women from South East Anatolian region who were interviewed in their homes for their psychosocial needs and mental health status. PTSD was assessed by the Post Traumatic Stress Scale (PDS), psychiatric symptoms by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and trauma-exposure and explanations by single questions. Results show relatively high prevalence of PTSD, 61%. A dose-effect association was found between the number of earthquake-related traumatic events and PTSD and psychiatric symptoms. The nature of trauma was, to some extent, significant in the associations with psychiatric symptoms and PTSD. Experiences involving death were comprehensively associated with psychiatric symptoms, whereas material losses were not. About a half of the women explained the trauma as a will and guidance of the God, 41% as a natural event, and 9% blamed human irresponsibility.

DISCUSSION: As hypothesized, women who blamed other humans for the disaster reported higher levels of depressive, somatization and paranoid symptoms than those explaining it as God's will or a natural event. Results refuted, however, the hypothesis about the protective role of religious explanation in the high exposure to earthquake related trauma.