PTSD And Other Health Consequences Of Exposure To Trauma

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究将突出我们在理解从政治暴力，特别是酷刑到不同心理健康结果的途径中未充分解决的两个核心因素。首先，对控制的肯定评价，例如通过宗教和政治意义，被假设可以减少创伤后精神疾病的发病率。其次，神经内分泌活动，特别是低皮质醇水平，被假设与创伤幸存者的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状呈负相关。本研究是一项前瞻性的纵向调查酷刑幸存者在尼泊尔跟随超过18个月的时期。100名酷刑幸存者和50名对照参与者将被评估PTSD症状、可控性评估、身体健康和唾液皮质醇水平。最终，本研究对受政治暴力影响的美国人、逃离政治暴力的外国出生美国人以及地方性政治暴力人群的心理健康后遗症的预防和干预具有相关性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research will highlight two central factors inadequately addressed in our understanding of the pathway from political violence, specifically torture, to differential mental health outcomes. First, the affirmative appraisal of control, such as through religious and political meaning, is hypothesized to reduce posttraumatic psychiatric morbidity. Second, neuroendocrine activity, specifically low cortisol levels, is hypothesized to associate inversely with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among trauma survivors. This study is a prospective longitudinal investigation of torture survivors in Nepal followed over an eighteen month period. One hundred torture survivors and fifty control participants will be assessed for PTSD symptoms, appraisal of controllability, physical health, and salivary cortisol levels. Ultimately, this research has relevance to prevention and intervention for mental health sequelae for Americans affected by poltical violence, foreign-born Americans who have fled political violence, and populations with endemic political violence.