The Journal of nervous and mental disease
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J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. · Jun 2002
Comparative StudyThe mental health of war-wounded refugees: an 8-year follow-up.
The complex nature of recent wars and armed conflicts has forced many war-injured persons into exile. To investigate their long-term mental health, three instruments for assessing mental health (HSCL-25, PTSS-10, and a Well-Being scale) were presented to 44 war-wounded refugees from nine different countries 8 years after arrival in Sweden. ⋯ The findings suggest a high psychiatric morbidity and a need for psychiatric interventions in this refugee group. Methodological issues to be considered in research on sequels of war traumas are discussed.
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J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. · Jun 2002
CommentStates' spending for public welfare and their suicide rates, 1960 to 1995: what is the problem?
Drawing on Durkheim's theory of social integration, this discussion reports on findings from a pooled time-series analysis of states' spending for public welfare and their suicide rates, controlling for states' divorce rates, population change rates, population density, unemployment rates, sex ratio, and racial composition. The analysis spans a 35-year period, 1960 to 1995, at six different data points: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995. The major hypothesis was that states' suicide rates would increase with decreases in per capita spending for public welfare, controlling for the variables listed above in three different models and using OLS to analyze the data. ⋯ Of all the variables, the influence of divorce on suicide was the most persistent and pronounced, followed by the percentage of whites in states' populations. Whether the findings reflect an increase in the unendurable psychological pain associated with suicide, or the weakening of ties that bind individuals to each other and to the larger society (as measured by states' divorce rates and per capita expenditures for public welfare), or the vulnerabilities associated with race, states can help counter suicide trends and such negative influences as divorce as evidenced by states that spend more for public welfare and have lower suicide rates. Given that clinicians work with people experiencing the unendurable psychological pain associated with suicide, the findings from these analyses have relevance for their practice.