Posttraumatic stress disorder with major depression frequency and some determinants in non-violent trauma cases admitted to Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Medicine Forensic Medicine Polyclinic

Introduction: It has been seen that all disciplines give more emphasis to physical trauma at the medicolegal evaluations of individuals who have been traumatized, and trauma-related psychological impact is mostly researched in cases of violence. However, mental examination is neglected or because refferal to a psychiatrist is not made, it can not be done in injury cases by an accident. The aim of our study is to research the psychological impact of cases injured by non-violent causes and was not reffered to a psychiatrist, with the help of a symptom scale at forensic medical evaluation. Materials and Methods: 'Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale' (TSSS) was administered in an eight month period within the year 2017, to adult patients who referred to our deparment for medicolegal evaluation, injured by non-violent trauma and did not accept the suggested psychiatry consultation. Demographics, trauma type and injury severity gleaned from the rewiev of forensic reports kept in our department was recorded to data collection form. Statistical relationship between the scale scores and demographic and trauma characterictics was evaluated using SPSS 22.0 program. Results: Scale was administered to 64 cases. Mean age was 41,30±16,65 and M/F rate was 1,37/1. The cause of trauma was traffic accidents in %78 and work accidents in %11 of the cases. Scores was corresponding with PTSD (cutoff=25) in 13 cases, among these 9 cases were found corresponding with PTSD with MDD (cutoff=38). Correlation between low income levels and the presence of PTSD with MDD symptoms was found statistically significant. (p=0,015, p=0,013). In cases of time over the trauma was longer than a year, PTSD with MDD symptoms was found statistically significant to be more frequent. (p=0,021, p=0,035). A positive correlation has been seen between injury severity classified according to article 86 and 89 of TCC and having high scores of scale. Conclusions: To detect the mental trauma, not only in victims of violence, but also in individuals who have been injured by non-violent trauma is considered important for prevention of forfeiture in legal procedures. Furthermore, we agree with the opinion that the evaluation of post-traumatic psychological impact is effective for providing a holistic medical approach to patients and their psychological healing. With this study, application of a scientifically-excepted mental trauma scale to forensic cases thought to be useful for medicolegal evaluation and revealing mental trauma findings, at departments psychological evaluation can not be done by a specialist.