Psychiatric symptoms in traumatized Syrian refugee children settled in Hatay

Abstract

Aim: After the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, its cruelty and violence forced about millions to leave their homes. These experiences might create serious mental problems, especially in children and adolescents who might have an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mental health status of Syrian refugee children who exposed to a variety of traumatic events.

Method: The sample consisted of 1518 drug-naive Syrian refugee children and adolescents aged between 8 and 16 years who were admitted to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department in Hatay State Hospital between June 2016 and December 2018. The CRIES-13 (Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale-13) was used to evaluate PTSD symptoms and CDI (Children's Depression Inventory) was used to examine depressive symptoms. The sample was divided into three groups according to the type of trauma and the CRIES-13 and CDI scores were compared between the groups.

Results: The mean age of the children was 12.4 ± 3.1. 46.9% of the children were male and 53.1% were female. The total score and intrusion and arousal subscores of CRIES-13 were significantly different between the three groups. The total CDI score was also significantly different between the three groups. The likelihood rates of PTSD and depression differed significantly between the groups.

Conclusion: Traumatized Syrian refugee children may present PTSD symptoms more likely than depressive symptoms. War-related traumatic experiences may have more adverse effects on Syrian children’s psychology than other traumas.

Keywords:

• children
• depression
• PTSD
• refugee
• Syrian
• Turkey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Serkan Gunes

Serkan Gunes, MD, child and adolescent psychiatry specialist since 2012 with a 4-year experience at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Hatay State Hospital, Hatay, Turkey.

Oguz Guvenmez

Oguz Guvenmez completed his medical education in Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University in 2003. Now, he is an independent researcher in Adana, Turkey.