Mental health care of psychotraumatized persons in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina--experiences from Tuzla Canton.

BACKGROUND Majority of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) residents were exposed to cumulative traumatic events during and after the (1992-1995) war, which demanded emergency organizing of psychosocial support as well as psychiatric-psychological treatment of psychotraumatized individuals. OBJECTIVES To describe organizing of psychosocial help during and after the BH war, institutional treatment of psychotraumatized in the frame of mental health service reform program with an overview on the model of psychosocial support and psychiatry-psychological treatment of psychotraumatized persons of Tuzla Canton region. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The retrospective analysis of functioning in the Department for traumatic stress disorders on the Psychiatry Clinic in Tuzla for the 1999-2003 period has been described in regard of number, gender, age and trauma related mental disorders of referred patients. RESULTS In the observed period, 8.329 of patients in the outpatient care program were included, 617 of inpatients were treated in the Clinic, while 301 of patients in the Partial hospitalization program were included. Mean +/- standard deviation of patients' age was 45+/-8.06 years. More psychotraumatized women (60.8%) were encompassed in the partial hospitalization program than in inpatients (23.9%) or outpatients (18.3%) care programs. In regard of trauma related mental disorders, majority outpatients had Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in co morbidity with other mental disorders (72.5%), PTSD was presented amongst the majority of inpatients (64.5%) and in partial hospitalization program there were (47.5%) patients with PTSD. CONCLUSIONS In the treatment of psychotraumatized persons, in the organizing of health care system schema in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, meaningful obstacles are presented still today on the both, social and political level, despite mental health service reform performed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The stigmatization of mental health issues is an important problem in treatment of traumatized individuals especially among war veterans. The lack a single Center for psychotrauma in postwar BH shows absence of political will in BH to resolve the problem of war veterans with trauma related psychological disorders.