Association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and ego structure of the Nanai people

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, Jul 2017

Background A man-made chemical disaster occurred in the Amur River, leading to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Nanai people indigenous to the river’s surrounding area. PTSD severity measured by the total scores of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (Total-I) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) (Total-C) were not always identical in terms of demographic and ethnocultural characters. It is possible that the results derived using the Total-I and Total-C may differ for persons with different backgrounds and/or individual characteristics. In this study, the associations between PTSD severity and personal characteristics were evaluated. Methods The study was a field-type survey including 187 randomly selected participants (75 males and 112 females). In addition to Total-I/Total-C, scores for each IES-R/CAPS item, Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal, and Ego Structure Test by Ammon (ISTA) score were examined to evaluate their personal characteristics. Results No specific trends in ISTA score were obvious among four groups defined according to Total-I/Total-C. The results of principal component analysis showed that all IES-R/CAPS items contributed positively to the 1st axis but to the 2nd axis in a different manner. ISTA items did not always show correlations to each other, but principal component analysis suggested that Construct contributed positively and Destruct and Deficient (with the exception of Destruct sexuality) contributed negatively. High IES-R scores were associated with Construct Aggression and Deficient Inner demarcation, but high CAPS score was less likely to exhibit Construct Narcissism. Conclusion To avoid the misdiagnosis of PTSD, usage of both IES-R/CAPS may be required. Simultaneous application of personality/ego tests may be helpful, but appropriate numbers of their questions would be important.

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Association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and ego structure of the Nanai people

Ota et al. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine Association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and ego structure of the Nanai people Yoko Ota 0 Natalia Korshunova 0 Masashi Demura 0 Midori Katsuyama 0 Hironobu Katsuyama 1 Sri Ratna Rahayu 0 Kiyofumi Saijoh 0 0 Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University , Kanazawa , Japan 1 Department of Public Health, Kawasaki Medical University , Kurashiki , Japan Background: A man-made chemical disaster occurred in the Amur River, leading to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Nanai people indigenous to the river's surrounding area. PTSD severity measured by the total scores of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (Total-I) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) (Total-C) were not always identical in terms of demographic and ethnocultural characters. It is possible that the results derived using the Total-I and Total-C may differ for persons with different backgrounds and/or individual characteristics. In this study, the associations between PTSD severity and personal characteristics were evaluated. Methods: The study was a field-type survey including 187 randomly selected participants (75 males and 112 females). In addition to Total-I/Total-C, scores for each IES-R/CAPS item, Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal, and Ego Structure Test by Ammon (ISTA) score were examined to evaluate their personal characteristics. Results: No specific trends in ISTA score were obvious among four groups defined according to Total-I/Total-C. The results of principal component analysis showed that all IES-R/CAPS items contributed positively to the 1st axis but to the 2nd axis in a different manner. ISTA items did not always show correlations to each other, but principal component analysis suggested that Construct contributed positively and Destruct and Deficient (with the exception of Destruct sexuality) contributed negatively. High IES-R scores were associated with Construct Aggression and Deficient Inner demarcation, but high CAPS score was less likely to exhibit Construct Narcissism. Conclusion: To avoid the misdiagnosis of PTSD, usage of both IES-R/CAPS may be required. Simultaneous application of personality/ego tests may be helpful, but appropriate numbers of their questions would be important. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; Ego structure Test by Ammon; A man-made chemical disaster; indigenous Nanai people Background In December 2005, an accident at a chemical factory caused the release of toxic substances into the Songhua River (Jilin, China); these substances then polluted the downstream Amur River, which lies in the Russian territory [ 1 ]. The serious subsequent pollution of the river water caused several adverse outcomes, including the sedimentation of chemicals into the riverbed, forest fires [ 2 ], the prohibition of fishing and hunting, and a reduction in the forest area. Many of the Nanai people that lived along the middle reaches of the Amur River Valley lost their traditional ways of obtaining staple food and performing their traditional and religious activities and suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previously [ 3 ], PTSD severity has been assessed in this population using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) [ 4–6 ] and the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) [ 7, 8 ]. Both the IES-R and the CAPS consist of questions regarding Intrusion (compulsion to repeat), Avoidance of traumatic events, and Hyperarousal to physiological symptoms of irritability. Severity was determined by assessing their total scores, IES-R total (Total-I) and CAPS total (Total-C). The results were not always identical and depended upon the participants’ demographic and ethnocultural background, clinical examination results, and ethnopsychological attitudes toward the Amur River [3]. The comparison of the results derived using the Total-I and the Total-C alone seemed to be insufficient to understand the severity of PTSD in this population. Moreover, interactions between personal characteristics differentially affected on Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal may have existed. In fact, when attempting to obtain a better understanding of PTSD severity, the effects of an individual’s personality profile on his or her PTSD severity were of interest in various situations [ 9–12 ]. In the present study, the Ego Structure Test by Ammon (ISTA) [13] was utilized to gain a better understanding of the participants’ personality profiles, because it was available in Russian, and we analyzed the interactions between ISTA, IES-R and CAPS items, and PTSD severity. Methods Subjects The participants and field-type survey have been described previously [ 3 ]. That is, 187 indigenous adult Nanai volunteers over the age of 18 years were randomly selected from the general civilian population in eight villages in the Nanai Regional District of Khabarovsk Territory located in the Far East of the Russian Federa (...truncated)


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Yoko Ota, Natalia Korshunova, Masashi Demura, Midori Katsuyama, Hironobu Katsuyama, Sri Ratna Rahayu, Kiyofumi Saijoh. Association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and ego structure of the Nanai people, Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 2017, pp. 1-8, Volume 22, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/s12199-017-0666-z