Citation

Rometsch C, Denkinger JK, Engelhardt M, Windthorst P, Graf J, Gibbons N, Pham P, Zipfel S, Junne F. J. Psychosom. Res. 2020; 130: e109931.

Affiliation

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.109931

PMID

31981895

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Refugees with a history of war or sexual violence often experience somatic symptoms along with mental disorders. After being held in captivity by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), 1100 especially vulnerable Yazidi women and children (around 400 women) received special medical and psychological support. We report on their (psycho-) somatic complaints and concepts of illness.

METHODS: Female refugees (N = 116) were surveyed regarding their somatic complaints and concepts of illness. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and self-developed questionnaire items with ratings on a five-point Likert scale from 0 ("not at all") to 4 ("extremely") were used. Subgroup analyses and a multiple linear regression model were computed.

RESULTS: Pain (M = 2.43, SD = 1.70) is the main somatic complaint with a moderate rated severity, followed by feelings of suffocation (M = 2.37, SD = 1.53), and movement disorders (M = 1.62, SD = 1.70). In a linear regression model, pain explains variance (R² = 0.325) in the refugees' self-reported health-related wellbeing. Somatic symptoms are mainly attributed to psychological causes, followed by physical (e.g., physical origin of symptoms), religious, and supernatural causes. Women with pain symptoms attributed their symptoms more to physical causes (M = 1.90, SD = 1.78) than did women without pain symptoms (M = 1.07, SD = 1.59).

CONCLUSION: Female Yazidi refugees being kept in IS captivity mainly suffer from pain, which is attributed to an explanatory psychological model. The study results show the specific psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic needs and demands for specifically tailored psychotherapy.

Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

Attributional style; Concept of illness; Explanatory model; PTSD; Pain; Refugees; Somatic complaints; Yazidi