Four years of day hospital treatment of psycho-traumatized persons in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

During and after the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH), the population faced severe traumatic events, and the need for organized psychosocial help to traumatized persons was great. The Ministry of Health, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has established the network of psychosocial help in 1996. This paper to present organization of day hospital in Psychiatry Department Tuzla, for psychosocial support and treatment of persons, traumatized during and after the BH war. The authors described the implementation of the community-based Reform Program of Mental Health, the Ministry of Health, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and retrospective analysis of hospitalizations for psycho trauma in a 1999-2003 period of work carried out within the day hospital of the Psychiatry Department in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Considering the number of referred patients, their gender, age, and psychiatric disorder does this. Diagnostic estimation was carried out in accordance with DSM-IV classification, standardized PTSD interview, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). During 1999-2003 period there were a total of 283 day-hospital patients aged 45 8.06 years, 118 (41.40%) of them were males. According to psychiatric disorders, the highest number of patients 143 (50.2%) suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), 132 (46.3%) of patients were classed as having depressive disorders and 45 (15.8%) patients suffered from psychotic disorders. In addition it considers advantages and disadvantages of day hospital in psychiatric care of psychotraumatized persons in post war BH.