Comparion of the traumatic levels and cognitive distortions of female prisoners with society sample

Objective: In this study, the comparison of psychological symptoms, cognitive distortions and traumatic experiences between women in prison and convicts in the community sample; and to determine the relationship between psychological symptoms, cognitive distortions and traumatic experiences is aimed. Method: A total of 300 women, 150 of whom were in the control group and 150 of the study group, participated in the study. Brief Symptom Inventory, Cognitive Distortions Scale and Traumatic Experiences Scale were applied to the participants together with the sociodemographic information form. Results: According to the findings of the study, anxiety, depression, negative self, somatization and hostility levels of the study group consisting of prisoners were significantly higher than the control group. In the study group, while the mean of twopronged cognitive distortion factors was significantly higher than the control group, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of other cognitive distortion factors. However, the traumatic experience of the study group was significantly higher than the control group. According to the results of the correlation analysis conducted to investigate the relationship between variables in the study group, there were positive relationships between psychological symptoms, cognitive distortions and traumatic experiences. In the control group, positive correlations also were found between psychological symptoms, cognitive distortions and traumatic experiences. Conclusion: It is thought that traumatic experiences are generally effective in female delinquency and the psychological symptoms of this sample are higher. It is recommended to produce policies parallel to these results in women's guilt prevention and prisoner improvement works.