characteristics of post traumatic stress disorder in the witnesses to victims of self-immolation

objective: in some areas of iran self -immolation is one of the most common ways for committing suicide and it is very disturbing and painful for those who witness it. due to the presence of the families/relatives of the self-immolation victims in the psychiatric clinics seeking for the treatment of ptsd sings, we decided to carry out a research in this respect. method: this descriptive cross-sectional study has evaluated 100 witnesses (70 % females , 30% males ) who referred to kermanshah psychiatric clinic during a four year period ( 2004-2007) . the subjects were assessed by 2 demographical questionnaires and ptsd criteria on the basis of dsm-iv-tr using clinical interview. the obtained data were analyzed using spss statistical indexes. results: among the subjects, 52% were between 25-35 years of age, 87% were illiterate, 29% had a previous history of self-burning in their family, 33% had a previous history of mental disorder, 84% were villagers and 75% were married. the results have also shown that 78% of the studied subjects had diagnostic symptoms for ptsd and 22% had major depressive disorder according to dsm-iv-tr conclusion: this study suggests that psychiatric evaluation of people who directly witness self -immolation in family members or neighbors may be useful in early detection and prevention of ptsd. however, further studies are warranted.