Post travmatic stress disorder and related factors of combat veterans in Turkey: A systematic review

This study was held by systematic reviewing of the researches on the soldiers who had taken part in a combat, then had been diagnosed by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Turkey and systematically analysing data obtained from the researches. A total of fifty four published researches on the topic were reached and twenty five of them were evaluated according to inclusion criteria. The research methods utilized and the obtained data from these researches were reviewed. As a result of this systematic review study, it was found out that these researches stressed the importance of PTSD development of Turkish combat-injured soldiers, findings from some of the reviewed researches revealed that some veterans had comorbid diagnoses after physical injury, others reported that alcohol misuse by the veterans was observed for coping with the psychological trauma, some related researches indicated an association between PTSD and aggressive behaviours in close social relationships after combat experience. The results of the researches addressing the perceived social support, coping skills and seeking psychological help attitudes of the soldier were also reviewed. An important result obtained from the reviewing of the relevant researches is that following the combat experience the family, their fellow soldiers and the institutions contributed the most to the veterans' perception of the social support, respectively. According to the results of the reviewed researches, a commonly adopted coping strategy of the soldiers with PTSD was using the religious beliefs and that the soldiers might refer to their physical injury as a homeland defense for coping strategy. In addition, some researches pointed out that the negative attitudes of combat veterans towards the psychological help seeking were consistent with the results of previous veteran studies in Turkey. Consequently, the systematic review of the related researches has produced evidence on the importance of this problem.